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Shares of Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) are exploding higher Thursday as its new ‘Shuffles by Pinterest’ app is making waves on social media and is the #5 app on the iOS App Store for the ‘Lifestyle’ category.
What makes this more impressive is the app was just launched on Jul 27, 2022, to little fanfare and the app is ‘invite only’. The app is so under the radar that management didn’t even discuss it with investors on its recent earnings call.
Shuffles was designed for “collective collaging,” according to the app’s description. “Want to curate a festival outfit? Visualize your dream bedroom? Moodboard your current aesthetic vibe? Or just express yourself by creating something beautiful, strange, or funny? You’ll love Shuffles,” the description goes on to say about it.
Despite today’s 10% surge higher, Pinterest shares remain down 37% year-to-date. That said, activist investor Elliott Management breathed new life into the stock in July after taking a 9% stake. Since that time rumors have been swirling if Elliott with try to get the company back into merger talks with PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), another Elliott holding. Last fall, PayPal held talks to acquire Pinterest for $45 billion, but later decided not to pursue the transition. That proved to be a smart move as Pinterest’s current market cap is now just $15 billion.
Pinterest is operating with a new CEO following news in June that co-founder and longtime CEO Ben Silbermann would step down and transition to a newly created position of Executive Chairman of the board. Silbermann was replaced by Bill Ready, who comes from Alphabet.
