PayPal exploring €38bn Pinterest takeover

Sources said the companies have discussed a potential price of around $70 a share

PayPal’s interest comes at a complicated time for Pinterest. 

PayPal — the online payments facilitator which employs nearly 3,000 people in Ireland — is understood to be exploring an acquisition of social media company Pinterest.

PayPal has recently approached Pinterest about a potential deal, according to sources. 

They said the companies have discussed a potential price of around $70 (€60) a share.

That would value Pinterest’s stock at roughly $39bn, implying a valuation of $45bn for the entire company when its untraded Class B shares are taken into account. 

A deal at that level would represent about a 26% premium to Pinterest’s closing price of $55.58 yesterday.

A boom in online shopping has helped PayPal stock more than double since the start of last year, giving the company a market capitalisation of nearly $320bn. 

Those gains give it a strong currency it could use for acquisitions.

PayPal’s interest comes at a complicated time for Pinterest. 

The social media company announced this month that co-founder Evan Sharp, who oversaw its design and product teams, is stepping down. 

It has also been dealing with a number of accusations from former employees that Pinterest discriminated against female workers.

Pinterest offers a visual search and scrapbooking platform where users can save, collect, and group images by themes.