In October 2021, Bloomberg reported that PayPal had discussed buying Pinterest at roughly $70 a share. It was a reported conversation, not an agreed acquisition.
I could see why PayPal would want shopping discovery closer to checkout. I was less convinced that a payment company could fix Pinterest’s user-growth problem. Pinterest had a distinctive audience, but turning saved ideas into purchases required merchants, inventory, and a reason for users to transact there. The deal only made sense if PayPal could improve that path without turning a place people browse for inspiration into another checkout funnel.