Pinterest’s Irish arm buys IP portfolio from parent in €524m deal

The Irish arm of Pinterest owes other group companies more than $670 million (€556 million) after acquiring the entire intellectual property (IP) portfolio of its immediate parent at the end of 2019.

Pinterest, the image-sharing and social-media service, which has more than 459 million monthly active users, opened its first office in Dublin in 2016 where it has its European headquarters. It now has about 100 people working locally, with plans to hire about another 80.

Newly-filed accounts show Pinterest Europe acquired the IP portfolio of its immediate parent for Focus I18n Holding Unlimited at the end of December 2019 for $631.5 million (€524 million), with the amount it owed group companies rising from $30.7 million to $672.5 million as a result.

The subsidiary had not paid its parent for the transaction at the time accounts were lodged with the Companies Registration Office in Dublin at the end of June 2020.

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Revenues more than doubled at Pinterest Europe in 2019, rising from $49.1 million to $107.3 million. The company attributed the increase to higher online advertising revenues from third-party customers together with expansion into additional overseas markets.

The rise in turnover boosted pretax profits, which jumped from $549,00 in 2018 to $2 million a year later.

Expenses rose during the year due to increased investment in expansion activities, although rose at a slower pace than revenue. Overall, expenses jumped to $105 million from $48.5 million in the prior year.

Staff costs also increased as average headcount increased from 39 people to 73. Costs surged to $7.8 million from $2.3 million a year earlier.

Pinterest reported a 48 per cent year-on-year rise in revenues to almost $1.7 billion last year, with $268 million of that derived from outside of the United States.

The platform, which made its stock market debut in April 2019, has been the beneficiary of a coronavirus pandemic-related rise in usage with its valuation increasing by more than 600 per cent as a result.

The company recently revealed that Microsoft approached them about a possible acquisition, although talks are not currently active.