Sources: Pinterest earned ~$310M in revenue during Q1-Q3 of 2017, expects ~$490M for the year, falling short of projected $500M, and plans 2019 IPO
Amir Efrati / The Information : Tweets: @aatilley and @amir . Thanks: @aatilley Tweets: Aaron Tilley / @aatilley : Pinterest misses 2017 revenue projection: $490 million versus $500 million projected https://www.theinformation.com/ ... tip @Techmeme Amir Efrati / @amir : Here are the latest @Pinterest financials & user growth targets. Key thing: company seems determined not to repeat the IPO mistakes of $twtr & $snap. http://go.theinformation.com/ ... http://twitter.com/... Thanks: @aatilley
Context & Ripple Effects
The Information's year-end leak puts Pinterest just under its own bar — roughly $490M against a $500M projection for 2017 — but pairs the miss with a 2019 IPO plan and, per Amir Efrati, a determination not to repeat the post-listing stumbles of Twitter and Snap. The final 2017 tally came in at $473M, up 58%, so the projection was optimistic rather than the business broken.
What followed validates the pacing: by late 2018 Pinterest was lining up an IPO that could value it above $12B as soon as April 2019, on track for $700M+ in 2018 revenue — even as the [[a:933246|New York Times reported investors and employees frustrated by the deliberately steady approach]].
First-order effects
- Pinterest ends 2017 short of a $500M internal projection, putting management's credibility on the line heading into an IPO pitch where every disclosed number gets audited against prior targets.
Second-order effects
- The miss pushes Pinterest to sequence its public debut around demonstrable re-acceleration rather than momentum: the 2019 window only opens if 2018 growth holds near 50%, which is exactly what the company then reported.
Third-order effects
- If the Twitter/Snap-avoidance playbook holds, late-decade consumer internet companies delay listings until losses narrow and growth is proven — Pinterest's eventual IPO filing showing a $63M net loss, down from $130M in 2017 is the template working as designed.
The trend: Consumer social platforms are timing their IPOs around proven growth re-acceleration and shrinking losses rather than private-market hype, with Pinterest as the case study in waiting.