👛 PayPal wants Pinterest?

…it’s not as random as it sounds [Disclosures](   From Pin to pan [mapodile/E+ via Getty Images]   Last Week’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 35,677 (+1.08%) S&P 500 4,545 (+1.64%) Nasdaq 15,090 (+1.29%) Bitcoin $60,906 (-1.27%) Dow Jones 35,677 (+1.08%) S&P 500 4,545 (+1.64%) Nasdaq 15,090 (+1.29%) Bitcoin $60,906 (-1.27%) Hey Snackers, The bus shortage intensifies: A Boston high school was forced to use a [party bus]( complete with a dance pole and neon lights for a recent field trip. Slightly more fun than [being picked up]( by the National Guard. Stocks jumped for the week, and [the Dow]( index notched a fresh record on Friday. Investors were heartened by earnings from companies like [Johnson & Johnson]( and [Tesla]( which [dropped]( strong quarterly results despite rising prices and supply-chain backlogs. Want to start getting Snacks daily? Or prefer to unsubscribe? Manage your subscription preferences [here](. Pin-spo Surprise duo: PayPal could buy Pinterest for $45B to unlock lucrative social shoppers DIY holiday gift inspo... Some want a hand-poured soy candle, some want a multibillion-dollar company. [PayPal]( is [reportedly]( in talks to buy [Pinterest]( for a whopping $45B — a cushy premium on its $40B market cap. It would be the biggest acquisition of a social-media company ever, and the largest consumer internet deal in a decade. At first tap the pairing might seem random: - PayPal is the $300B online payments giant, with 400M+ users. It rose to fintech fame thanks to its handy checkout button on retailers' sites. - Pinterest, which IPO’d in 2019, is the wholesome social network where 450M people create mood boards for chateau-style weddings, man caves, and latte art. Came for the vintage Pin-spo... left with the vintage jeans. PayPal's interest in Pinterest comes at a time when product discovery and spending are shifting to social apps like Insta and TikTok. US shopping on social sites is expected to jump 36% this year, to $36B. Not coincidentally: Many Pins have "shop" buttons that connect to merchants' sites. Pinterest is where people start the shopping journey — PayPal wants to finish it. - Buying an audience: More than half of Pinterest users are women between the ages of 24 and 49, a lucrative demo that makes the bulk of families’ spending decisions. Nearly half of Americans who make $100K+/year are Pinners. - Social shopping: If PayPal integrates its payment system with shoppable Pins, it could boost its transaction revenue from 450M+ Pinners. - Selling #ads: Pinterest’s revenue from retailers’ “Promoted Pins” would help PayPal diversify its income, which mainly depends on payments volume. - Pinterest shares soared 13% since Wednesday’s deal rumors, while PayPal shares have fallen 12%. THE TAKEAWAY PayPal wants “super app” status… TBD if it can execute. Super apps like Alipay and [Alibaba]( are used widely across Asia to shop, bank, chat, and post — all in one. Despite its big ambitions and $19B in cash to splurge, PayPal still hasn’t integrated with Venmo, which it bought in 2013 (you can’t Venmo someone who only has PayPal). If PayPal does buy Pinterest, seamless integration will be key to turbocharging its social-ecomm ambitions. Zoom Out Stories we’re watching... Immunity boost… not a ginger shot. The FDA [authorized]( [Moderna]( and J&J boosters last week. [Pfizer]( had already gotten the green light, so people who are at high risk or 65+ can now choose from three boosters. Dr. Fauci expects people under 65 to be eligible for boosters soon. Pfizer said Friday that its vax is safe for kids — now the FDA’s reviewing the results. 80% of US adults are fully vaxxed, but the push isn’t over. And some un-vaxxed workers are quitting to avoid vax mandates. Bit by bit… Crypto mainstreamification continues. [Bitcoin]( prices hit a record $67K last week after two Bitcoin futures ETFs started trading in the US for the first time. These ETFs do not invest directly in Bitcoin, but they make crypto more accessible. 200M people now own $2.5T in crypto, and it’s attracting more individual and institutional investors. [Morgan Stanley]( [Goldman Sachs]( and [Wells Fargo]( all launched Bitcoin funds this year. Looking ahead, crypto giants are building more crypto tools, and more Bitcoin futures ETFs are expected to launch this month. Events Coming up this week... FB under fire... [Facebook]( reports earnings today, while in the thick of a public-trust crisis. First, WSJ’s bombshell coverage of internal FB files underscored Instagram’s [toxicity for teens](. Then, two whistleblowers said FB puts profits over user safety. Last quarter, FB’s booming ad sales drove revenue to a record $29B. But it warned that [Apple’s]( iOS update, which now lets users opt out of ad tracking, could hurt profits. It already hurt [Snap]( whose stock plunged 22% Friday after it dropped disappointing results. Restocking TP… During the pandemic, [Amazon]( won over IRL shoppers as we scanned digital shelves for lockdown essentials. Amazon’s sales hit a record $125B for the quarter ending last December, but year-over-year growth slowed last quarter. Still, the ’Zon could make up half of US online sales this year. Ahead of holiday demand and supply-chain troubles, it plans to hire 150K seasonal staff, 50% more than last year. Amazon is set to drop earnings on Thursday. ICYMI Last week's highlights.... - [iGoods]( Apple’s latest product launch put health-tracking water-resistant AirPods at the center of its expanding health and fitness push. - [RT]( Trump’s new company, which wants to take on Big Tech and “create a rival to the liberal media,” is going public via a SPAC called [DWAC](. DWAC stock soared 9X on the news. - [UnFIFA]( [Electronic Arts]( might bail on longtime teammate FIFA — after $20B+ in sales of the best-selling sports game franchise ever — because of a contract dispute. What else we're Snackin' - [Work]( “The Great Resignation” is ramping up, as the pandemic causes a revolution in worker expectations. - [Unshop]( Inside the world of Buy Nothing, where dryer lint is a hot commodity and half-eaten birthday cakes foster a sense of community. - [Career]( Despite pandemic setbacks, a new McKinsey study found women in corporate roles advanced at nearly every level of US companies last year — but are more burned out than men. 🍪 Want to start Snacking daily? Sign up [here]( for our daily market newsletter. The Snacks Daily Podcast Cargo ships are as valuable as sold-out Beyoncé tix right now. But one retailer found a way to dodge the debacle: Crocs. [Tune in]( to hear how shares of the clog colossus rose 15X in the past year and a half. Snack Fact Of the Day [A hydrogen-powered Toyota just drove 845 miles between fill-ups, setting a Guinness World Record]( This Week - Monday: Earnings expected from Facebook, Restaurant Brands International, and HSBC - Tuesday: New home sales. Earnings expected from Alphabet, Microsoft, Twitter, Canon, Visa, Novartis, GE, Lockheed Martin, and Hasbro - Wednesday: Earnings expected from Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Spotify, Boeing, GlaxoSmithKline, GM, Twilio, Ford, eBay, and Kraft Heinz - Thursday: Jobless claims. Earnings expected from Apple, Amazon, Sony, Mastercard, Shell, Shopify, Starbucks, Caterpillar, and Hershey - Friday: Earnings expected from Exxon, Chevron, and Colgate-Palmolive Disclosure: The value of an investment in Bitcoin Futures ETFs could decline significantly and without warning, including to zero. Bitcoin Futures ETFs performance may differ significantly from the performance of bitcoin. Authors of this Snacks own Bitcoin, and shares of Twitter, Google, Moderna, Tesla, Amazon, Apple, Starbucks, Shopify, Spotify, GM, Ford, and Square ID: 1890265 Robinhood Snacks newsletters and podcasts reflect the opinions of only the authors who are associated persons of Robinhood Financial LLC (Member [SIPC]( and do not reflect the views of Robinhood Markets, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. They are for informational purposes only, and are not a recommendation of an investment strategy or to buy or sell any security, digital asset (cryptocurrency, etc) in any account. They are also not research reports and are not intended to serve as the basis for any investment decision. Any third-party information provided therein does not reflect the views of Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates. All investments involve risk including the loss of principal and past performance does not guarantee future results. 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