PayPal Inc is not pursuing an acquisition of Pinterest Inc at this time, the payments company said late on Sunday, responding to media reports that it was in talks to buy the digital pinboard site for as much as $45 billion.
Bloomberg News first reported on the companies' talks last Wednesday that was later confirmed by Reuters. A source at that time told Reuters that PayPal had offered $70 per share, mostly in stock, for Pinterest.The Pinterest deal would have been the biggest acquisition of a social media company at the reported price, far surpassing Microsoft Corp's $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn in 2016.
Paypal, among the big pandemic winners, has done a few takeover deals this year, including its $2.7 billion acquisition of Japanese buy-now-pay-later firm Paidy.