Microsoft was considering a takeover of Pinterest — the company has approached the service in recent months with an offer to buy, learned the Financial Times . If it took place, it would become the largest deal in the history of Microsoft.

According to FT sources, Pinterest could be a useful part of the company's "cloud", a source of valuable data for Microsoft's marketing services, and also serve as a training material for artificial intelligence systems. Now negotiations are not underway, the interlocutors of the publication say, without specifying the reasons.

The FT notes that Pinterest representatives expressed their intention to remain an independent company. The publication sent a request to representatives of both companies, but they declined to comment.

Pinterest is a social network that allows you to add your favorite images on various topics to your collections and share collections with other users. During the pandemic, the popularity of the service soared - the market value increased by 600% and is about $ 51 billion. Revenue in 2020 increased by 48%, to $ 1.6 billion. The monthly active audience grew by 37% over the year, to 459 million people.
Microsoft is not the first time thinking about the absorption of popular online services: in 2020, the IT giant was considering a deal with TikTok, acquired ZeniMax Media, the parent company of game developer Bethesda Softworks, for $7.5 billion. So far, the record amount ($26 billion) belongs to the purchase of LinkedIn in 2016.

Microsoft offered to buy Pinterest - FT