According to insider sources, activist investor Elliott Management significantly increased its investment in Pinterest as the once-popular social media business struggles with a loss in users.
Elliott Management recently increased its holding by more than 9 percent, informing Pinterest that it’s become the largest investor. No announcements were made, but insider sources claim the two have een in contact over the past few weeks.
Peaks and troughs
Pinterest is a free online platform for imagery and content sharing. The organization saw some upheaval as of late.
As the pandemic kicked into high gear, Pinterest’s business surged significantly. In February, the firm announced its first full-year profit and over $2 billion in yearly sales.
However, when COVID regulations loosened and customers started spending more time offline, the firm reported a net loss of $5 million. A slowdown in ad spending and adjustments to Apple’s privacy policies also impacted the company’s performance. Meta suffered from the policy change as well.
Pinterest shares, which have a market value of $12 billion, dropped by roughly 50%, underperforming the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index by around 30%.
Series of changes
Ben Silbermann became executive chairman in June after resigning as CEO. Bill Ready, who had served as head of commerce at Google since 2020, was appointed as his replacement.
The changes followed the recent departures of numerous Pinterest executives, including its head of global business operations and its chief of investor relations. According to a statement from April, Silbermann — one of the three co-founders of Pinterest — has approximately 37 percent voting interest in the business, which may restrict Elliott’s ability to impose changes.
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