Earnings Miss And Executive Comparison
Pinterest reported weaker than expected results for the fourth quarter, and during the earnings call chief executive Bill Ready compared the platform’s search activity to that of the AI chatbot ChatGPT. Ready said Pinterest receives more searches than ChatGPT, citing third party data that put ChatGPT at about 75 billion searches per month and Pinterest at about 80 billion searches, with 1.7 billion monthly clicks. He said this makes Pinterest one of the largest search destinations and added that more than half of Pinterest searches are commercial in nature, compared with what he described as about 2% for ChatGPT.
Quarterly Results And Outlook
The company missed expectations on both revenue and earnings per share. Pinterest reported revenue of $1.32 billion, below the $1.33 billion forecast, and earnings per share of 67 cents, compared with the 69 cents expected. It also said it expects first quarter 2026 sales to range from $951 million to $971 million, which is below the $980 million analysts had projected. Pinterest said the shortfall reflected reduced spending by large advertisers, especially in Europe, and the impact of a furniture tariff introduced in October that affected the home category. The company said those pressures could continue into the first quarter.
User Growth And Market Reaction
The earnings miss came despite faster than expected growth in the user base. Pinterest said monthly active users rose 12% year over year to 619 million, compared with a Wall Street forecast of 613 million. After the results were released, shares fell 20% in after hours trading.
Search And Commercial Positioning
Ready said Pinterest’s scale in search activity and the share of searches with commercial intent support its role as a shopping related discovery platform. He said the company’s visual search, discovery, and personalization features are designed to show users relevant products when they open the app. He also pointed to the company’s partnership with Amazon, which he said has made checkout easier for users.
Advertising And AI Context
Pinterest has long faced challenges converting high usage into advertising revenue because many users visit the platform to plan or gather ideas rather than to make purchases. The company acknowledged that this issue could become more difficult in an environment where advertisers may shift spending to platforms that show clearer buying intent, including chatbot based product searches. When asked about AI driven shopping, Ready said customers do not yet appear ready to let an AI system make purchases on their behalf, but said Pinterest would be prepared if that changes and said he views that step as solvable within the shopping process.
Featured image credits: Instagram
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