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Crafty clicks at Pinterest
Good morning, creative curators. This is your Stock Market Rundown for February 15th, 2024. Thanks for hanging out with me once again. Let’s dig in:
TODAY’S TOP STORY: LOOKING FOR PIN-SPIRATION
Need ideas for your wedding decor? Contemplating getting bangs? Or seeking inspiration for a casserole that will get a compliment from your surly mother-in-law? You’re pulling up Pinterest.
The “social pinning” platform makes it so easy to create a virtual collage of crap you want to buy. Pinterest may seem like just a cute website for making collages of girl stuff.
But make no mistake, this company is serious about monetizing their audience. When Pinterest management talks to Wall Street, the focus is monthly active users and margin expansion, not makeup tips and macrame projects.
The company’s founder, Ben Silbermann, got his start in tech working in Google customer support. Pinterest’s original mission was to “get you offline and inspire you to go out and do the things you love.” These days, it’s more like “inspire you to buy a whole new wardrobe, then bake a cake in the shape of a Minion.”
Recently, Pinterest’s stock price took a hit on results that missed expectations, even though growth is still running double digits. Pinterest makes all its money from advertising, and the ad market has been ultra-competitive lately, with the big dogs (TikTok and Meta) chomping up all the ad spend.
But Pinterest has a big advantage: four in ten users are Gen Z—aged 18 to 27. This fresh-faced cohort is much valued by advertisers. And unlike Boomers, you can’t reach them by advertising on 60 Minutes.
Plus, advertisers love how “brand safe” Pinterest is. It’s the goody-two-shoes of social media sites, immune to attacks for purveying propaganda or misinformation. That’s probably why the media has referred to it as “the world’s most wholesome social network.”
The most offensive thing you’re going to see on Pinterest is a flower arrangement with clashing colors. Red and pink in the same vase? Blocked and reported.
SO WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
I can’t remember the last time I went to a bank in person, but I guess some people are still lining up to do wire transfers: JP Morgan is opening 500 new branches across the US. Maybe they can add one to every Starbucks, so customers can open a savings account while they’re picking up a chai latte..
While WeWork went bankrupt, there’s at least one person who still believes in the concept: WeWork founder Adam Neumann is trying to buy back the business. This is like getting back together with your toxic ex because they say they’ve changed… when you should’ve just blocked their number.
Kentucky exports more than tobacco and soybeans: it’s a major manufacturing hub for Toyota. Now the automaker is investing over a billion bucks, betting that their electric SUVs will be the fastest horse in the EV derby.
Chipotle beat earnings on robust burrito demand. Nice that they’re no longer giving people food poisoning... putting up “employees must wash hands” signs in the bathroom probably added billions to their market capitalization.
And that closes out today's session. Excited to see you all first thing tomorrow for more. Yours in capitalism, The Axe