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Does Google Fancy Pinterest?
- TechCrunch, Friday, January 20, 2012 12:27 PM
Without any evidence of a formal offer, Google “somehow” expressed interest in buying social networking site Pinterest for “hundreds of millions” of dollars. So sources tell TechCrunch’s Alexis Tsotsis. “This makes sense, as Google wanted to buy [Pinterest rival] Path for $100 million before it had any users,” Tsotsis reasons. “Pinterest has a bajillion users.” Why no deal thus far?
For one, Pinterest co-founders Ben Silberman, Evan Sharps and Paul Sciarra don’t want to sell the company, Tsotsis seems to know. Silberman, for one, is reportedly itching to bring the company public. Meanwhile, Tsotsis also hears that a Google Pinterest clone in the works -- “which makes sense, as it seems to fit with Google’s general ‘if you can’t buy them, clone them’ MO (see: Google Offers and Google Places).”
What are the chances of Google, or some other company, replicating Pinterest’s success? Who knows, but “considering that the Pinterest design has a built in virality [sic] and business model,” Tsotsis said she wouldn’t be surprised if Google, Facebook and even Twitter built something that replicated its core functionality.
