• by Laurie Sullivan , March 5, 2026

Activist investor Elliott Investment Management, one of the largest investors worldwide, has funded Pinterest with $1 billion. The company will use the funding to repurchase shares.

The firm, which built a reputation on aggressive public tactics to transform companies, has been deeply embedded in advertising for years.

Marc Steinberg, one of the firm's partners, now holds a seat on Pinterest's board to oversee initiatives like AI-powered ad tools and visual search to combat slow growth and competition from TikTok and Instagram. 

Pinterest plans to use the money to fund a $3.5 billion share buyback program. This investment was officially announced on March 3, 2026 through a joint statement by Pinterest and Elliott Investment Management.

Elliott Investment Management views Pinterest's shift into an AI-driven visual search engine as a catalyst for major growth.

Pinterest intends to repurchase up to an additional $500 million in shares from cash on hand pursuant to a 10b5-1 trading plan, subject to terms and conditions of the plan, market conditions and management discretion, according to the statement.

In 2020, Elliott Investment Management acquired a $2 billion stake in X, and pushed for board representation and leadership changes. The firm exited its position in 2022 following Elon Musk's acquisition interest. Other companies in which the firm held investments include Salesforce and AT&T.

In 2014, the firm disclosed a 6.7% stake in IPG, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies.

Reports suggest that it pushed IPG to explore a sale to competitors such as WPP, Publicis or Omnicom. Although this did not result in a sale, it reportedly triggered a series of structural changes that eventually prompted Omnicom to buy IPG in 2025.

Pinterest CEO Bill Ready confirmed during the company's most recent earnings call that the platform now processes more than 80 billion monthly searches. But he believes AI can better convert the those monthly searches into direct shopping revenue by matching users with purchasable products.

In the second half of 2025, during the earnings calls, Ready and the management team detailed the platform's change into an "AI-powered visual-first shopping assistant," noting that search queries grew 44% year-over-year.