Online bulletin board site Pinterest is reportedly in talks to pick up VSCO, a photo editing and sharing app you may remember as inspiration for a teen subculture back in 2019Negotiations are still ongoing, say two knowledgeable sources the New York Times, and there’s still no word on a possible price for the deal.
Neither Pinterest nor VSCO have directly confirmed talks about a possible acquisition. In a statement to the Times, VSCO spokesperson Julie Inouye said the company does not discuss rumors and “always and at any time meets different companies in the creative space.”
However, the timing would make sense given Pinterest’s record fourth quarter last yearThe company saw an increase in users and market value when covid-19 lockdowns gave dozens of people ample time to aimlessly scroll through social media. Pinterest Reportedly Added 100 million new users in 2020 and now has nearly 460 million monthly active users worldwide. According to the Times, Pinterest has a market cap of about $ 49 billion, and experts project the company’s total revenues could grow by more than 48% by 2021.
Right now, it’s in Pinterest’s interest to strike while the iron is hot and focus on building public perception where it is arguably the weakest. Even if there are a lot of people on the platform, you are more likely to run into it Pinterest’s very boisterous haters than that users sing its praises. And while I didn’t go to high school in a hot minute, it wasn’t exactly the coolest place to be online back then, and the image doesn’t seem to have changed much since then. The acquisition of VSCO, a service that eschews traditional social media metrics such as ‘likes’ and followers, and is so popular among Gen Z that it spawned the eponymous ‘VSCO girl’ meme, could give the brand some new life. blowing in.
One thing that works against Pinterest is its reportedly terrible track record in the workplace. Amidst the company’s tremendous growth in recent years, employees have been seriously complaining about it toxic work environments, with multiple women filing lawsuits that they faced racial discrimination. Pinterest’s former COO, Francoise Brougher, abruptly resigned last year with little explanation, argue later that she was pressured to leave because she complained about gender discrimination and salary inequalities among Pinterest graduates.
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