Pinterest’s new CEO throws winds behind e-commerce sails

Pinterest named Google commerce business executive Bill Ready its new CEO Tuesday, tasked with steering the company toward an e-commerce future.

Why it matters: The social media company sees its next chapter as finding ways to generate revenue beyond advertising.

Driving the news: Ready's new role is effective Wednesday, succeeding longtime CEO Ben Silbermann, who will transition into the newly-minted executive chairman title.

What they’re saying: “In our next chapter, we are focused on helping Pinners buy, try and act on all the great ideas they see. Bill is a great leader for this transition,” Silbermann said in prepared remarks.

Details: Ready certainly has the accolades of someone with e-commerce know-how. He was previously an operating chief at PayPal and prior to that, he was the CEO of Braintree and Venmo.

Flashback: PayPal was in talks to buy the social media company for $45 billion, but that effort was shelved.

Of note: While other social media companies like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat have jumped on the online shopping bandwagon, Pinterest’s journey has been slower.

• The image-sharing company has said it is actively working on developing native checkout (timing TBD).
• Since 2020, Pinterest and Shopify have been partners, giving Pinterest users the ability to buy products from a merchant’s link via its platform.

Background: Earlier this month, Pinterest acquired online fashion-shopping platform The Yes and with it another retail heavyweight–former Stitch Fix operating chief and The Yes founder Julie Bornstein.

The acquisition was another play at becoming the one-stop-shopping destination for consumers.

Yes, and: Axios Pro's Lucinda Shen scoops that Nick Fox will assume Ready's role at Google.