The $45 billion deal is expected from the online payments behemoth.
The acquisition of Pinterest Inc. by PayPal Holdings Inc. would be a major departure from the company’s recent image as a simple online payment button.
PayPal has been claiming for months that it wants to be the next global “super-app,” similar to China’s Alipay and WeChat, India’s Paytm, and Singapore’s Grab, which are digital ecosystems that combine social media, commerce, and banking.
The CEO of PayPal is attempting to broaden the company’s scope beyond payment processing.
Pinterest, which recently launched a high-yield savings account and shopping features, is rumored to be up for a $45 billion buyout by the company. Pinterest is a visual scrapbooking and search engine that allows users to save, collect, and organize images by topic.
“PayPal has the potential to expand its shopping options and e-commerce presence, potentially competing with other major online retailers such as Amazon or Shopify,” Mizuho Securities USA’s Dan Dolev said.
Dan Schulman, the CEO of PayPal, wants to take the company beyond the checkout page by utilizing Pinterest to gather even more information about the products customers are purchasing.
After Bloomberg reported the company’s interest in Pinterest, PayPal’s stock dropped 4.9 percent to $258, 36 on Wednesday. The stock is up 10% after the S&P 500 Information Technology Index, which includes 75 companies, increased by 21% this year.