Elliott Management Holds Over 9% of Troubled Pinterest, Reportedly in Discussions

Activist investor Elliott Management has accumulated a 9% stake in social media platform Pinterest and is reportedly in talks to further boost that position The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday (July 14), citing unnamed people familiar with the talks.

According to the report, Elliott is now the visual media platform’s largest shareholder, at a time when Pinterest has been posting losses while facing shrinking user numbers as the easing of pandemic restrictions has seen people spending less time on social media.

The news sent shares of Pinterest up more than 15% in after-hours trading Thursday, after falling more than 70% over the past 12 months.

The site operates a free platform for sharing pictures to inspire projects like weddings, cooking or home renovations.

In addition, there have been a number of recent departures from the site, including its head of global business operations and its investor-relations chief and CEO Ben Silbermann announcing that he was stepping down to become executive chairman. The WSJ said that Silbermann, one of the three founders of the company, still has around a 37% voting stake in the company, a reality that makes it more difficult for Elliott to force changes as freely as it might want.

PYMNTS wrote that Silbermann’s stepping down would bring in a new CEO in Bill Ready. The report said Pinterest may try to reinvent itself and add more social commerce. Ready has experience working with Google as commerce chief in 2020 as the pandemic began, and responded by making most merchant listings free in the Google shopping tab. He also partnered with PayPal to let merchants link their Google and PayPal accounts to onboard sellers quicker.

See also: Pinterest Makes Push to Reclaim Social Commerce With New CEO

The San Francisco-based social media company was founded in 2008 and currently has a market value of about $12 billion. It is slated to report its Q2 earnings results and meet with investors at the end of July.