Alright, let's get this straight. Pinterest, the platform where people go to virtually plan their dream lives that they'll never actually live, just had a major faceplant. A 20% drop in their stock price? Ouch. That's gotta sting, even for a company swimming in VC money.
The Numbers Game: Smoke and Mirrors?
So, the numbers are out, and they're not pretty. They missed earnings per share – 38 cents adjusted versus the expected 42 cents. Okay, not the end of the world, right? But then you dig a little deeper. Revenue was supposed to be $1.05 billion. And it... was. So, a hit and a miss. Looks like the broader market took the miss on earnings harder than the hit on revenue.
CEO Bill Ready is out there spinning this yarn about how their "investments in AI and product innovation are paying off." Give me a break. Every tech company is slathering "AI" on everything they do these days like it's some kind of magical elixir that cures bad business decisions. It's the new blockchain, I swear.
He says they've become "a leader in visual search" and an "AI-powered shopping assistant." Really? Is that why their stock just took a nosedive? I'm using Pinterest to find inspiration for a new birdhouse, not to have some AI bot try to sell me overpriced garbage. And offcourse, if they are a leader, why are the earnings so bad? Maybe the birdhouse should be powered by AI...
And then there's the monthly active users – 600 million, apparently beating expectations. But let's be real: how many of those users are just passively scrolling through pretty pictures, never actually buying anything? It's like saying Instagram is a booming e-commerce platform because people double-tap photos of shoes. Engagement doesn't equal revenue, people.
Tariff Troubles and Ad Spend Angst
Pinterest's finance chief, Julia Donnelly, is blaming "pockets of moderating ad spend" in the US and Canada, pointing the finger at "larger US retailers" dealing with tariff-related issues. Specifically, tariffs imposed by that orange-faced buffoon who used to run this country. Gotta love how political decisions from years ago are still tanking businesses today.
Donnelly says they see "broader trends and market uncertainty continuing with the addition of a new tariff in Q4 impacting the home furnishing category." So, basically, people aren't buying as much crap because it's getting more expensive, and that's hitting Pinterest's ad revenue. Shocker.
Meanwhile, Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon are all raking in the dough from digital advertising. Meta's revenue soared 26%! Amazon's ad unit grew faster than their cloud computing! What are those companies doing right that Pinterest is doing so wrong? Or is it just that people go to those platforms with actual purchase intent, whereas Pinterest is just a digital mood board?
Reddit also blew expectations out of the water with a 68% increase in sales. Are people just flocking to platforms where they can engage in actual conversations and communities, instead of just passively consuming pretty pictures? Maybe.
Speaking of, I tried making a pie the other day. Turned out like molten slag. I'm never baking again. See? Totally relevant tangent.
AI as a Scapegoat?
Ready claims AI is the future, but is it really? Or is it just a convenient scapegoat for deeper problems? Are they focusing too much on flashy AI features and neglecting the core user experience? Maybe.
Here's the real question: Is Pinterest fundamentally a platform for doing, or just for dreaming? If it's the latter, then no amount of AI is going to save them. They need to figure out how to convert those 600 million monthly active users into actual paying customers, or they're doomed.
