Pinterest files for IPO, but avoids calling itself a social network
The latest Silicon Valley company to file for an initial public offering is Pinterest, the San Francisco-based social network and image board that in recent years has built a large advertising and commerce business from its growing user base. The company, although it is still not profitable, says it earned more than $750 million in revenue last year, and it’s cut its losses from nearly $200 million in 2016 down to just under $75 million annually. Pinterest says it was in fact profitable in the fourth quarter of 2018, but not profitable enough to get out of the red for the full calendar year.
The company, headed up by original co-founder and CEO Ben Silbermann, plans to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. It joins ride-hailing...