Takeover speculation
PayPal does not currently track purchases from Pinterest
Due to the boom in online shopping in the corona pandemic, it currently has a market capitalization of $ 320 billion. Photo: Paul Sakuma / AP / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
According to media reports, it was said that PayPal was in takeover negotiations with Pinterest. But now the payment service clears up – with a very short statement.
After reports of sales talks with the photo platform Pinterest, the payment service PayPal announced that it is not currently aiming to take over the company.
The statement consisted of only one sentence and left open whether the negotiations were disturbed by the sudden attention or whether the media information was incorrect.
The price of Pinterest shares had risen significantly last week according to the reports. On Wednesday, among other things, the financial service Bloomberg and the “Wall Street Journal” reported that PayPal was in takeover negotiations with Pinterest. According to Bloomberg, a price of 70 dollars per share had been discussed – that would be a premium of around a quarter on the previous closing price. The share then rose by up to 13 percent.
Pinterest began as a place where users can save photos from the Internet on so-called pinboards on certain topics – for example, when they are planning a vacation or want to redesign their home. Meanwhile, Pinterest also sees itself as a visual search engine in which software can identify similar objects. On the basis of this ability, the service wants to play an increasingly important role in online trading – so that you can buy the things you see right away. This could be a starting point for PayPal.
Paypal is currently also due to the boom in online shopping in the corona pandemic with a market capitalization of 320 billion dollars. The service was once part of the online trading platform Ebay.
Pinterest was one of the winners of the corona pandemic last year: More people used the lockdown time for the app. With the removal of the corona restrictions, the number of users fell again at the beginning of summer. The advertising business was still better.