Pinterest is not exactly the most popular platform in the world but it sure is a marketing hub for many content creators. Its main focus is visual content, which ad marketers are extremely keen on.
In this article, I’ll explore Pinterest’s financial data, looking at its revenue, income, spending, losses, and other important details I might find.
Interested yet? Good, then let’s begin!
Worldwide Annual Revenue 2016-2022
First, I’m going to look at Pinterest’s annual revenue from 2016 to 2022 and form some initial conclusions based on this.
Here’s the chart I’ll be working with:
| Year | Global Annual Revenue | % Increase |
| 2016 | $298.87 million | |
| 2017 | $472.85 million | +58.21% |
| 2018 | $755.93 million | +59.86% |
| 2019 | $1.142 billion | +51.07% |
| 2020 | $1.692 billion | +48.16% |
| 2021 | $2.578 billion | +52.36% |
| 2022 | $2.803 billion | +8.72% |
Based on this chart, there are several conclusions I could draw:
- Pinterest has gone through consistent revenue growth from 2016 to 2022, with year-over-year increases of more than 50%. The 2021-2022 period seems to indicate a more restrained revenue increase, likely due to the pandemic recovery and even a potential market saturation
- Pinterest introduced e-commerce elements in 2020, which allowed its users to discover and buy products directly from the platform. This greatly contributed to the upshift in revenue in 2020 and 2021. One other factor that likely contributed to the increase in revenue in the 2020-2021 period was the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. People were forced to stay at home and online platforms like Pinterest became a favorite pastime
- Pinterest’s continuous growth in advertising features and deals was a clear contributor to its massive revenue spikes in the 2016-2022 period. The company kept expanding its ad capabilities over the years, which was clearly a good decision
- Throughout the years, Pinterest has expanded internationally. One notable achievement in this sense is when Pinterest announced that the international monthly active users had surpassed the US MAU (monthly active users). There’s a direct correlation between this and the increased revenue, clearly
As for the lower increase in revenue from 2021 to 2022, the pandemic recovery was likely the biggest culprit of that.
However, I could also deduce that competition has grown too much for Pinterest to handle. Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram are extremely popular and valuable to ad marketers.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that they took a large slice of Pinterest’s ad dollars.
Next, I’ll be looking at Pinterest’s annual revenue by region!
Worldwide Annual Revenue from 2017 to 2022 by Region
This is a more granular look at Pinterest’s annual revenue increase from 2017 to 2022 based on regions of interest. Have a look at the chart below:
| Year | United States | United States and Canada | International | Europe | Rest of the World |
| 2017 | $443.84 million | $29.01 million | |||
| 2018 | $697.17 million (+57.07% from last year) | $58.76 million (+102.55% from last year) | |||
| 2019 | $1.026 billion (+47.16% from last year) | $117 million (+99.11% from last year) | |||
| 2020 | $1.425 billion (+38.88% from last year) | $268 million (+129.05% from last year) | |||
| 2021 | $2.016 billion (+41.47% from last year) | $562 million (+109.7% from last year) | |||
| 2022 | $2.309 billion | $398 million | $95 million |
It seems that the US has been the primary diver of revenue for Pinterest throughout the platform’s existence. There’s a strong user base and advertiser intent in the US for Pinterest, that much is clear.
Moreover, the growth in international markets is much more visible in the 2017-2021 period. International revenue has grown by 1,837% during this period.
In fact, Europe alone accounted for $398 million out of the total $493 million international revenue in 2022. Granted, the bulk of Pinterest’s revenue came from the US and Canada in 2022.
However, it’s clear that Europe and the international market are becoming more important to the company’s growth than ever before.
Also, the international market is far from reaching market saturation judging by the year-over-year increases in revenue, compared to the US.
Lastly, I’m very interested in Pinterest’s revenue in other areas of the world excluding Europe, the US, and Canada. I only have the data from 2022 but I estimate that that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
With a smart marketing plan, Pinterest could expand into these markets and grow its revenue further.
Let’s move on to the next section and see some more data!
Worldwide Annual Net Income from 2016 to 2022
This section will deal with Pinterest’s net income over the years and, believe it or not, the company has been on a constant losing streak for several years.
| Year | Annual Net Income | % Increase/Decrease in Profitability |
| 2016 | -$182.1 million | |
| 2017 | -$130.44 million | +28.36% (still operating on a loss) |
| 2018 | -$62.97 million | +51.72% (still operating on a loss) |
| 2019 | -$1.361 billion | -1,162% (still operating on a loss) |
| 2020 | -$128.32 million | +90.57% (still operating on a loss) |
| 2021 | +$316.4 million | +346.35% (operating on a profit) |
| 2022 | -$96 million | -130.4% (operating on a loss) |
As you can see, Pinterest has been in deep financial straits for a long period of time. Even though its losses diminished over time and profitability “increased“, the company still operated at a loss for most of the time.
Only in 2021 did the company ever register a profit of $316.4 million and then in 2022 registered another loss of $96 million.
But nothing compares to 2019’s loss of $1.361 billion. Though, the picture isn’t as dire as it seems. That particular loss was mostly due to a one-time expense that was related to Pinterest’s Public Offering in April of that year.
it was a stock-based compensation that did not affect the company’s actual cash flow.
As for the reasons why Pinterest keeps operating at a loss, there are several potential ones:
- Pinterest’s chief emphasis is on long-term growth and well-thought investments. Product development and innovation have always been key principles in the company’s growth. It always wants to introduce new features, enhance the user experience, and remain competitive in the ad landscape
- Pinterest has always been keener on attracting new users and expanding into new markets, with money-making strategies remaining on the back burner for awhile
- The global advertising market is mostly dominated by Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google, with Pinterest being left behind as a mostly-niche social media platform
What I can tell you is that Pinterest isn’t content with operating at a loss forever. Their plan extends far into the future and they’re planning on long-term growth and stable profitability.
Whether this pans out or not remains to be seen. Until then, we’ve got other financial data to look at!
Worldwide Net Income/Loss from Q1 2017 to Q4 2022
How about a look at Pinterest’s net income/loss from Q1 2017 to Q4 2022? Just so you can see the company’s entire financial “disaster” for all these years.
This is the chart we’ll be working with:
| Period | Net Income/Loss | % Increase/Decrease in Profitability |
| Q1 2017 | -$61.2 million | |
| Q2 2017 | -$36.6 million | +40.2% from last quarter (still operating on a loss) |
| Q3 2017 | -$35.65 million | +2.6% from last quarter (still operating on a loss |
| Q4 2017 | +$3.4 million | +109.5% from last quarter (operating on a profit) |
| Q1 2018 | -$52.71 million | -1,649.4% from last quarter (operating on a loss) |
| Q2 2018 | -$38.41 million | +27.1% from last quarter (still operating on a loss) |
| Q3 2018 | -$18.87 million | +50.9% from last quarter (still operating on a loss) |
| Q4 2018 | +$47.02 million | +348.9% from last quarter (operating on a profit) |
| Q1 2019 | -$41.42 million | -188.1% from last quarter (operating on a loss) |
| Q2 2019 | -$1.159 billion | -2,699.8% from last quarter (still operating on a loss) |
| Q3 2019 | -$124.73 milion | +89.2% from last quarter (still operating on a loss) |
| Q4 2019 | -$35.72 million | +71.4% from last quarter (still operating on a loss) |
| Q1 2020 | -$141.2 million | -295.3% from last quarter (still operating on a loss) |
| Q2 2020 | $-100.75 million | +28.6% from last quarter (still operating on a loss) |
| Q3 2020 | -$94.22 million | +6.5% from last quarter (still operating on a loss) |
| Q4 2020 | +$207.84 million | +320.6% from last quarter (operating on a profit) |
| Q1 2021 | -$21.67 million | -110.4% from last quarter (operating on a loss) |
| Q2 2021 | +$69.42 million | +420.2% from last quarter (operating on a profit) |
| Q3 2021 | +$94 million | +35.4% from last quarter (still operating on a profit) |
| Q4 2021 | +$174.7 million | +85.9% from last quarter (still operating on a profit) |
| Q1 2022 | -$5.28 million | -103.0% from last quarter (operating on a loss) |
| Q2 2022 | -$43.08 million | +715.7% from last quarter (still operating on a loss) |
| Q3 2022 | -$65.18 million | -51.3% from last quarter (still operating on a loss) |
| Q4 2022 | +$17.49 million | +126.8% from last quarter (operating on a profit) |
Looking at Pinterest’s quarter-by-quarter revenue, we can see that most of the time, the company operated at a loss. The only periods when Pinterest had a positive income were:
- Q4 2017
- Q4 2018
- Q4 2020
- Q2 2021
- Q3 2021
- Q4 2021
- Q4 2022
One thing is clear based on the company’s financial data – it experienced massive fluctuations in profitability over the years. This shows a trend of inconsistency and volatility that seems to haunt the company.
It’s interesting to see that Pinterest has proven resilient in the face of consistent losses by being able to bounce back to periods of profitability in the following quarters.
And, even though most of its financial history is a disaster, the company is still going strong and expanding.
Especially in recent quarters, we’re seeing a trend in smaller losses, and in Q4 2022, the company registered a profit of $17.49 million.
This might show that Pinterest has implemented new strategies that could prove efficient in the future.
Let’s move to another financial sector in Pinterest’s breakthrough!
Annual Expenditure from 2016 to 2021
In this section, I’ll be looking at Pinterest’s expenditures from 2016 to 2021. More specifically, I’ll be looking at:
Without further ado, here’s the chart:
| Year | Research & Development Expenditure | Advertising Expenditure | Sales & Marketing Expenditure |
| 2016 | 167.55 million | 104.1 million | |
| 2017 | 207.97 million | 13.7 million | 162.51 million |
| 2018 | 251.66 million | 19.2 million | 259.93 million |
| 2019 | 1.207 billion | 55 million | 611.59 million |
| 2020 | 606.19 million | 30.3 million | 442.81 million |
| 2021 | 780.26 million | 94.7 million | 641.28 million |
Based on this chart, we can see that Pinterest has increased its expenditure tremendously over the years.
The R&D (Research & Development) sector was one of the biggest spenders, especially in 2019 when the company spent a whole $1.2 billion.
The Sales & Marketing sector comes in second place but the differences are minimal, meaning that Pinterest is spending almost as much money on marketing and sales as they are on R&D.
Lastly, the company has been spending the least amount of money on advertising but that’s rather normal. Usually, advertising is a long-term commitment that doesn’t produce results immediately.
Still, their ad expenditure has gone up considerably from 2017 to 2021 (a whole 365.68% increase in 5 years). It’s good to see that they’ve been emphasizing ad marketing as of late because, in the end, that’s going to bring them most of their money.
That’s always the case with social media companies – ad money is big money, which is most of the money they’re making.
As for the sudden $1.2 billion expenditure in the R&D department in 2019, that’s most likely caused by the approaching IPO (Initial Public Offering) in April of 2019 when the company went public.
Pinterest wanted to prove its commitment to innovation and impress potential investors so that it could have a more successful initial public offering.
Of course, this isn’t the only reason for that expenditure but I’m willing to bet it’s the most significant one.
Conclusion
My final overview of Pinterest regarding its financial history is that, overall, the company still hasn’t completed its growth and investment phase. I don’t think the platform has matured yet in the same way that Facebook has.
They’re still expanding their user base, improving the platform, attracting ad marketers, and making growing investments in R&D and marketing.
This can be seen from the company’s fluctuating profitability and constant operating losses.
On the other hand, the revenue growth is visible, although slow. The platform’s popularity is steadily growing, same as its ability to monetize the users.
Now, what will happen once Pinterest exits the investment phase, I cannot say. It’s still unclear whether they will get out of this phase or not.
Either way, if and when that happens, I’ll be here to cover it. So, see you at the next one!
Sources
- Statista – Global Annual Revenue of Pinterest from 2016 to 2021
- Statista – Global Annual Revenue of Pinterest from 2017 to 2022, by Region
- Statista – Global Annual Income of Pinterest from 2016 to 2021
- Statista – Global Net Income/Loss of Pinterest from 1st Quarter 2017 to 4th Quarter 2022
- Statista – Annual Sales and Marketing Expenditure of Pinterest from 2016 to 2021
- Statista – Annual Advertising Expenditure of Pinterest from 2017 to 2021
- Statista – Annual Research and Development Expenditure of Pinterest from 2016 to 2021
