Pinterest's Activist Investor

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Pinterest's Activist Investor

Shares of Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) jumped 15.32% in after-hours trading on Thursday after a report indicated that an activist investor took a big stake in the social media company.

Details: The Wall Street Journal reported that Elliot Management built a stake of more than 9% in Pinterest in recent months, mostly in common stock. It is one of the biggest investors in the company. Elliot Management has also been in discussions with Pinterest over the past several weeks. Pinterest has not commented on the report.

Background: Pinterest was one of those pandemic darlings that thrived during the lockdowns in 2020, but has fallen back to Earth after losing active users. The company even had a CEO change last month.

Numbers: Pinterest’s stock is down 51% this year and down 79% since peaking in April 2021.

Big Picture: The news also boosted shares of Snap (NYSE: SNAP) by 1.97% in after-hours trading on Thursday. Snap has also struggled in the past year.

Final Thoughts: Elliot Management’s involvement can only be good news for Pinterest investors. There are also rumors that this stock could potentially be acquired by a private firm someday.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Progressive (NYSE: PGR), BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE: PNC), U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), State Street (NYSE: STT).

Notable IPOs Today: N/A.

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: Simply Sonoma (Title3Funds), Anchor & Hope (Mainvest), Into The Box (Netcapital), Rockval (Fundopolis), NODABL Networks (Fundify), Chingu (Mainvest), Studly Brewing Company (Mainvest), SEANCE Film (Wefunder).

Notable Economic Events Today: Retail Sales (8:30 a.m. ET), Import Price Index / Export Price Index (8:30 a.m. ET), NY Empire State Manufacturing Index (8:30 a.m. ET), Industrial Production (9:15 a.m. ET), Business Inventories (10:00 a.m. ET), Michigan Consumer Expectations / Sentiment (10:00 a.m. ET).

Uniswap Jumps Thanks to Robinhood Inclusion

Photo by PiggyBank / Unsplash

Robinhood (Nasdaq: HOOD) added the cryptocurrency Uniswap to its trading platform on Thursday, sending the price of the token up 13%.

Background: Uniswap is a decentralized network protocol that facilitates transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. The crypto debuted in 2021.

Numbers: The token has lost 80% of its value since debuting. Thursday’s news was one of the best things to happen to Uniswap since it acquired NFT (non-fungible token) marketplace Genie in June.

Final Thoughts: Meanwhile, the prices for most other cryptos ticked up a bit on Thursday.

Equity Crowdfunding Spotlight: Thriving Design

Briefly describe your business. Thriving Design is an innovative garden product company featuring the patented C-BITE garden clip. C-BITEs are a customizable and reusable alternative to traditional plant supports. Building protection structures with C-BITEs is quick and intuitive.

What are the terms of the investment for your campaign? Convertible Note $4,000,000 valuation cap, 7% interest 18 month maturation date. Find out more at Wefunder.

What makes your startup special? Why will it succeed? While many companies carry individual products for plant support and protection, there hasn't been a single product that can essentially do everything. Until now. We have a patented product, so there is no direct competition for our plant support.

Trends to Watch

You Gotta Have Hart: G.J. Hart named president, CEO of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. (Nation’s Restaurant News)

Sorry Bored Ape Yacht Club: NFT marketplace OpenSea slashes 20% of jobs (Reuters)

Home is Where the Expensive Mortgage is: Mortgage rates jump after two weeks of declines (Yahoo! Money)

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