Ben Silbermann, CEO and Co-Founder of Pinterest.
Horacio Villalobos | Getty Images
Longtime Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann is stepping down, the company announced Tuesday.
Shares jumped more than 5% in after-hours trading.
Bill Ready, who was previously in charge of Google’s commerce business, is taking over the helm, effective Wednesday. Prior to joining Google, Ready was executive vice president and chief operating officer of PayPal.
Pinterest has more than 400 million monthly active users and has long placed its focus on its advertising business. But in recent years, it has shifted to make e-commerce more of a priority.
Earlier this month, for example, the company announced it was acquiring The Yes, an A.I.-powered shopping platform for fashion brands.
“In our next chapter, we are focused on helping Pinners buy, try and act on all the great ideas they see. Bill is a great leader for this transition. He is a builder who deeply understands commerce and payments,” Silbermann said in a statement.
Silbermann, who co-founded the company in 2010 and took it public in April 2019, will serve as the company’s first Executive Chairman.
“As someone who has spent most of my career in commerce and payments, it’s so clear to me that Pinterest has the opportunity to build something unique—something special,” Ready said in a LinkedIn post.
Shares of Pinterest are down 45.8% year to date and are nearly 76% off of 52-week highs.
