14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently tried to but failed to purchase image-sharing social media site Pinterest, according to a report, as the software giant has apparently tried to expand its presence in the social service business.
A report from Financial Times reveals that the talks have taken place in the last few months, but no information has been provided as to why they failed to come to a conclusion.
But on the other hand, Microsoft seems to be very interested in investing in social media companies, especially after it failed to take over the Chinese Internet phenomenon TikTok.
At one point, Microsoft was seen as the favorite tech company to take over TikTok, only that ByteDance dropped the talks, instead choosing to go for an agreement with Oracle.
Pinterest reaching record number of users
In the meantime, however, Pinterest keeps bragging about its massive growth, revealing earlier this month that 2020 brought a record number of users for its service.
It’s likely this substantial growth caught Microsoft’s attention, especially as the company apparently wants to go for a large company with an established name in the industry.
It’s not known how much money Microsoft was willing to spend for such an acquisition though.
“We welcomed over 100 million additional monthly active users to Pinterest in 2020, more than any other year in our history, and now we reach more than 450 million monthly active users around the world. I’m proud of our company and the inspiration we’ve been able to bring to so many lives during a trying year,” said Ben Silbermann, CEO and co-founder, Pinterest. “As we look to the future, our focus will continue to be delivering more inspiring and shoppable content and helping advertisers realize the value and positivity of our platform.”
Needless to say, neither Microsoft nor Pinterest commented on these rumors, though we should expect more information on the talks to make the headlines later this year.