PayPal Said to Be Negotiating Pinterest Buy

PayPal Holdings Inc. is having discussions about buying social media platform Pinterest, people familiar with the talks told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday (Oct. 20), in a deal that would add a new dimension to the payment platform’s offerings.

WSJ’s sources said talks between PayPal and Pinterest “are at an early stage and may not lead to a deal,” but Pinterest’s $40 billion market value at least has PayPal mulling adding the company to its ever-increasing portfolio.

PayPal shares were down almost 6% as of 2 p.m. ET as news of the potential collaboration swirled among market insiders. Pinterest stock, meanwhile, is up more than 13% based on the possible talks and the potential blockbuster merger that could materialize.

Related: PayPal’s New Super App Positioned to Deliver Next-Level Connected Experience

Earlier this year, PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster that “no consumer is going to have 40 or 50 apps on their phone,” adding that “there must be super apps that come together to consolidate all of your financial instruments. And by the way, those financial instruments include rewards points, and the ability to choose buy now, pay later, or even to use QR codes.”

PayPal’s so-called super app “offers customers a simplified, secure and personalized experience that builds on our platform of trust and security and removes the complexity of having to manage multiple financial or shopping apps, remember different passwords and track loyalty rewards,” said Schulman.

The PayPal super app combines payments, loyalty, money transfers and a high-yield savings account supplied by Synchrony Bank to create what the company sees as “a personalized dashboard of a customer’s PayPal account, a wallet tab to manage payment instruments and direct deposit, a finance tab that includes access to high-yield savings and crypto capabilities, and a payments hub that includes send and receive money features, international remittances, charitable and non-profit giving, bill pay and a two-way messaging feature to send notes of acknowledgment after peer-to-peer transactions.”