News of the potential deal comes less than a week after Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp announced plans to leave the company to join LoveFrom, a firm led by Jony Ive, the designer of many iconic Apple products. The sources requested anonymity as the discussions are confidential. San Jose, California-based PayPal and Pinterest did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Pinterest's shares, which had jumped over 13% earlier in the day forcing trading to be halted briefly, have shed about 16% of their value this year. PayPal's shares were down about 3.5% on Wednesday, while Pinterest was up over 10% at $61.55. The pandemic boost over the past 12 months have driven up its shares by about 36%, giving it a market capitalization of nearly $320 billion. The payments behemoth was among the big winners of the pandemic as more people used its services to shop online and pay bills to avoid stepping out. PayPal plans to finance the acquisition mostly through stock, the sources said. The per share price would represent a 26% premium to Pinterest's closing price of $55.58 on Tuesday. PayPal Holdings Inc has made an offer to buy digital pinboard site Pinterest Inc for $45 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, a combination that could herald more tie-ups between financial technology and social media companies in e-ecommerce.

Pinterest evan jony ive lovefrom