Pinterest, Inc. — research brief

# Pinterest, Inc. — research brief

**Slug:** pinterest  
**Date:** 2026-09-21  
**Industry:** Visual Discovery / Social Commerce Ads  
**Accent:** `#E60023`

## Label key
- **FACT** — Pinterest IR / SEC Form 10-K / earnings press release / Ads Manager / Business product pages
- **SECONDARY** — reputable press summarizing company materials
- **INFERENCE** — teaching connection (labeled; not a cited metric)

## Primary sources (FACT)
1. Q4 / FY 2025 earnings press release (Feb 12, 2026): https://s204.q4cdn.com/369458543/files/doc_earnings/2025/q4/earnings-result/Q425-PressRelease.pdf
2. Form 10-K FY 2025 (SEC EDGAR): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1506293/000150629326000021/pins-20251231.htm
3. Investor relations hub: https://investor.pinterestinc.com/
4. Pinterest Business — Performance+: https://business.pinterest.com/en-gb/pinterest-performance-plus/
5. Pinterest brand guidelines (logo identification): https://business.pinterest.com/brand-guidelines/
6. Product / consumer: https://www.pinterest.com/

## Key figures used on canvas
| Metric | Value | Label | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2025 revenue | $4,222M (+16% Y/Y) | FACT | Q4/FY’25 earnings PR |
| Q4 2025 revenue | $1,319M (+14% Y/Y) | FACT | Earnings PR |
| Global MAUs (YE’25) | 619M (+12% Y/Y) | FACT | Earnings PR / 10-K |
| Global annual ARPU | $7.21 (+4% Y/Y) | FACT | Earnings PR |
| US & Canada FY rev / MAUs / ARPU | $3,173M / 105M / $30.84 | FACT | Earnings PR |
| Europe FY rev / MAUs / ARPU | $775M / 158M / $5.12 | FACT | Earnings PR |
| Rest of World FY rev / MAUs / ARPU | $274M / 356M / $0.83 | FACT | Earnings PR |
| GAAP net income FY’25 | $417M | FACT | Earnings PR |
| Adjusted EBITDA FY’25 | $1,270M (margin ~30%) | FACT | Earnings PR |
| Free cash flow FY’25 | $1,252M | FACT | Earnings PR |
| Operating cash flow FY’25 | $1,284M | FACT | Earnings PR |
| Cost of revenue FY’25 | $842M | FACT | Earnings PR / statements |
| R&D FY’25 | $1,427M | FACT | Earnings PR |
| Sales & marketing FY’25 | $1,167M | FACT | Earnings PR |
| G&A FY’25 | $466M | FACT | Earnings PR |
| Share-based compensation FY’25 | $880M | FACT | Earnings PR reconciliations |
| Cash + marketable securities YE’25 | ~$2.47B ($969M cash + $1,498M securities) | FACT | Earnings PR balance sheet |
| Full-time employees YE’25 | 5,265 | FACT | Form 10-K |
| Monthly searches (CEO) | >80B | FACT | Earnings PR CEO quote |
| Women share of users | ~two-thirds | FACT | Form 10-K |
| Gen Z share of users | >50% | FACT | Form 10-K |
| Unbranded searches | >90% | FACT | Form 10-K |
| Patents (issued + pending) | ~400 | FACT | Form 10-K |
| Registered trademarks / apps | >660 | FACT | Form 10-K |
| Revenue mix | Substantially all from advertising | FACT | Form 10-K risk / business |

## Model read (teaching arc)
**Visual discovery / Taste Graph → advertising (brand + performance auctions) → shopping / catalog ads + Performance+ automation → creators / publishers / Brand Studio partnerships → international MAU growth with ARPU catch-up.**

Pinterest is an **intent-heavy visual search and discovery platform** at the intersection of search, social, and commerce. Users (619M MAUs) save and search Pins; advertisers buy auctioned ads across the funnel (standard, video, shopping, carousel, collection, Idea, Premier Spotlight). Substantially all revenue is advertising. Monetization is still skewed to US & Canada (ARPU $30.84 vs RoW $0.83 annually) while RoW holds the majority of MAUs — the classic internationalization teaching point.

## Do not invent
- Exact % of revenue from Shopping ads vs brand vs performance (not separately disclosed as a public line)
- Affiliate / take-rate % on outbound commerce (ads-mediated; not a disclosed marketplace GMV take)
- Exact advertiser count or CPM schedules
- Paid consumer subscription ARR (not a disclosed Pinterest consumer product line in FY’25 results)
- Exact Taste Graph edge counts beyond qualitative “billions of associations”