Starting Wednesday, Bill Ready, who
formerly ran Google’s e-commerce business, will assume the CEO role, as
Silbermann transitions into the newly created position of executive chairman.
Silbermann was responsible for much of
Pinterest’s growth, helping to expand the site to 400 million monthly active
users. During the pandemic, it saw a tremendous surge in interest. and its
stock soared accordingly, nearly hitting $90 per share at its height. In the
past year, though, the company’s stock has tumbled and closed Tuesday below
$20. (Shares were up 4% in after-market trading.)
Inside the company, there have been
problems. Last November, Pinterest settled a lawsuit in which it was accused of
doing nothing to address “widespread claims of race and gender discrimination.”
Silbermann, it said, surrounded himself “with yes-men, marginalizing women who
dared to challenge Pinterest’s White, male leadership clique.
The company also paid out $20 million to
its former COO Françoise Brougher in 2020, after she alleged that she was paid
less than male colleagues, wasn’t invited to important meetings, and was fired
after speaking up about these issues.
At the same time, Pinterest has garnered
praise under Silbermann’s watch for fighting misinformation about vaccines and
climate change, offering vetted content instead of its usual algorithmic search
results. That made the site stand out from other social media giants like
Twitter and Facebook in recent years, as both struggled to control the spread
of conspiracy theories and outright lies.
Pinterest has also been successful enough
in what it does to attract imitators, including Google. The search giant, in
2020, rolled out Google Collections to let users put their search requests
into, well, collections, which had a very Pinterest-like quality to them.
“I want to thank every employee—past and
present—who helped build Pinterest,” Silbermann wrote in a LinkedIn post. “So
much attention goes to founders and CEOs. But the truth is, everything worth
building is built by a team. I feel so lucky that thousands of exceptional,
wildly talented, creative and kind people joined our journey. Being part of the
Pinterest team with all of you has always been the best part of the job.”
Ready’s appointment to the CEO role comes
as Pinterest has increasingly focused on e-commerce in recent years. Earlier
this year, the company acquired The Yes, an AI shopping platform, to accelerate
its goals in the space.
Before his two-year tenure at Google, Ready
was chief operating officer of PayPal and CEO of Venmo, all roles that will fit
nicely with the company’s plans. Earlier this year, for instance, he helped
launch a feature on Google that let people move from a store listing on a
search-result page to the company’s checkout site in a single click.
“There’s no better time to join Pinterest,”
said Ready in a statement. “I have long admired the brand and platform that Ben
and the Pinterest team have created and everything the Company stands for. . .
. Having built multiple businesses from zero and operated at the scale of
billions of users, I have a deep appreciation for what it takes to scale a
business like this to the next level. I look forward to . . . [capitalizing] on
the many opportunities ahead and usher[ing] in Pinterest’s next chapter of
growth and success.”