Pinterest Inc said longtime Pinterest CEO Ben Silberman would step down and hand the social media platform control to Google CEO Bill Ready.
The news sent the company’s stock up 9% in extended trading on Tuesday. Pinterest CEO Highlighting Pinterest’s shift in focus to e-commerce initiatives from its ad-based business model.
The company landed a CEO at Ready, 42, who has managed sales. And payments operations at the search giant, which owns Alphabet Inc., for the past two years. Ready also held a senior management position at PayPal. His appointment marks the end of Silbermann’s 12-year tenure as CEO, which began when he founded the company in 2010. Pinterest has increased since then and has more than 430 million monthly active users.
Silberman, 39, will take on a new role as chief executive and retain his seat on the board. While the company said that Ready would also join the board.
Ready receives an annual salary of $400,000 and is eligible for a stock option award to purchase approximately 8.6 million Class A shares. In the next chapter, we will focus on helping users realize all the great ideas they see, buy, try, and implement,” said Silberman.”