Shares of Pinterest (PINS) jumped last week after news broke that it was nearing an agreement to be acquired by PayPal (PYPL). After trading was halted twice, shares of PINS finished up by 12% last Wednesday but then steadily traded lower on Thursday and Friday to finish the week at just over $58 a share.
Rumor has it that PayPal wants to acquire Pinterest for $70 a share, which would value the social media company at around $39b. Pinterest went public back in April of 2019 at a valuation of $10b.
Presumably, PayPal would figure out a way to monetize Pinterest’s platform like so many other social media companies have done and use the acquisition as a means of breaking into the social commerce space.
Why it matters
According to the unnamed source who broke the news, PayPal’s idea to purchase Pinterest was driven by competitive pressure from rival Shopify (SHOP) who has been making big moves to blend e-commerce with FinTech. Just last week, Shopify announced a new partnership with Spotify (SPOT) which will allow musical artists to sell merch by connecting their Shopify store with their artist profile.