The chairman of Pinterest, Tim Kendall, who since 2012 joined the growth of the start-up's advertising activities and the launch of a wide range of advertising products, is leaving the company to the end of the year.
Mr. Kendall has overseen the company's business activities over the past five years, seeking to move from a niche advertising product in experimental budgets to something that is worth big advertising spending for large companies. Since then, Pinterest has begun to gradually refine its field and has built a business that is targeting $ 500 million in business revenue next year. It missed some of the first screenings it had established many years ago, but with more than 200 million active users a month, Pinterest has created a full press to broadcast its advertising products to brands and marketers.
Kendall's departure was first reported by Recode and confirmed at TechCrunch. Kendall will leave to start a new business, and Recode's report suggests that he's looking to leave now before the IPO process begins along the line. Indeed, once the company begins to meet with bankers and begin refining its pitch, Kendall will likely end up indefinitely and unable to withdraw before the process is completed.
Pinterest's presentation to advertisers was not easy. The company has begun to invest heavily in its computer vision tools, as it seeks to make a pitch for its advertising product around a mastery of image recognition. Kendall said the company would integrate its visual search technology into its advertising products earlier this year at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017, and that it was trying to sell to advertisers that it could reach potential customers at all. stages of the life cycle of purchases. Pinterest wants to offer ads that users can discover, engage with, and ultimately encourage them to buy a product or download an app.
In June, Pinterest raised an additional $ 150 million for a valuation of $ 12.3 billion, and Pinterest's CEO Ben Silbermann suggested that an IPO was not in a Near future on TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017. But Pinterest is widely considered IPO next year, and his top executive leaving business will add an extra layer of difficulty when he tries to launch Wall Street on his business. Before Pinterest, Kendall led the monetization on Facebook.