PayPal Says Is Not Pursuing Acquisition of Pinterest

A Pinterest logo is seen on a smartphone placed over US dollar banknotes and a 3D printed PayPal logo in this illustration taken October 20, 2021. (Reuters)
A Pinterest logo is seen on a smartphone placed over US dollar banknotes and a 3D printed PayPal logo in this illustration taken October 20, 2021. (Reuters)
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PayPal Says Is Not Pursuing Acquisition of Pinterest

A Pinterest logo is seen on a smartphone placed over US dollar banknotes and a 3D printed PayPal logo in this illustration taken October 20, 2021. (Reuters)
A Pinterest logo is seen on a smartphone placed over US dollar banknotes and a 3D printed PayPal logo in this illustration taken October 20, 2021. (Reuters)

PayPal Inc is not pursuing an acquisition of Pinterest Inc at this time, the payments company said on Sunday, responding to media reports that it was in talks to buy the digital pinboard site for as much as $45 billion.

Pinterest did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside of business hours.

Bloomberg News first reported on the companies' talks last week that was later confirmed by Reuters. A source at that time told Reuters that PayPal had offered $70 per share, mostly in stock, for Pinterest.

At that price, a deal would have been the biggest acquisition of a social media company, surpassing Microsoft Corp's $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn in 2016.

PayPal did not provide additional details in its statement.

It also did not respond to a request for comment seeking details about possible talks with Pinterest.

PayPal shares are down about 11.5% since the talks emerged, while Pinterest is up about 4.5%.



DeepSeek Faces Expulsion from App Stores in Germany

FILE - The smartphone apps DeepSeek page is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
FILE - The smartphone apps DeepSeek page is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
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DeepSeek Faces Expulsion from App Stores in Germany

FILE - The smartphone apps DeepSeek page is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
FILE - The smartphone apps DeepSeek page is seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

Germany has taken steps towards blocking Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from the Apple and Google app stores due to concerns about data protection, according to a data protection authority commissioner in a statement on Friday.

DeepSeek has been reported to the two US tech giants as illegal content, said commissioner Meike Kamp, and the companies must now review the concerns and decide whether to block the app in Germany, Reuters reported.

"DeepSeek has not been able to provide my agency with convincing evidence that German users' data is protected in China to a level equivalent to that in the European Union," she said.

"Chinese authorities have far-reaching access rights to personal data within the sphere of influence of Chinese companies," she added.

The move comes after Reuters exclusively reported this week that DeepSeek is aiding China's military and intelligence operations.

DeepSeek, which shook the technology world in January with claims that it had developed an AI model that rivaled those from US firms such as ChatGPT creator OpenAI at much lower cost, says it stores numerous personal data, such as requests to the AI or uploaded files, on computers in China.