People familiar with the matter said on Wednesday that PayPal has made an offer to buy digital pinboard site Pinterest for $45 billion, a combination that could lead to more financial technology and social media tie-ups in e-commerce. It would be the largest social media acquisition ever, topping Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn in 2016.
The conversations come as online buyers increasingly buy products they see on social media, frequently by following “influencers” on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. PayPal would be able to harness more of that e-commerce growth and diversify its revenue streams by acquiring Pinterest.
According to one of the sources, PayPal has offered $70 per share, largely in stock, for Pinterest. According to the source, the online payments company aims to reach an agreement and reveal it by the time it publishes quarterly profits on Nov. 8.
The sources stressed that no agreement was guaranteed and that terms could alter at any time. They requested anonymity because the situation is private. Requests for response from PayPal and Pinterest were not returned. The talks between the two corporations were originally revealed by Bloomberg News on Wednesday. PayPal’s stock dropped 4.9 percent to $258.36, while Pinterest’s stock rose 12.8 percent to $62.68.
In a note to investors, Wedbush analysts wrote, “(The) combination would be a significant positive for PayPal’s ongoing monetization initiatives on both sides of its merchant and consumer platforms, especially if Pinterest’s social commerce platform gets integrated with Honey’s AI into PayPal’s destination app.”
