Microsoft has reportedly held talks with Pinterest in an attempt to acquire the social network. The Financial Times reports that the software giant approached Pinterest in recent months about a deal, but that the talks are “currently not active.” Had a deal taken place, it would have been Microsoft’s biggest to date, given Pinterest is valued at $51 billion.
Microsoft’s potential interest in Pinterest could signal an emerging strategy for its continued cloud push, though. The Windows maker has been trying to convince more big online services to use its Azure cloud offerings. Amazon’s AWS dominates this part of the market, and big names like Pinterest could draw in additional Azure customers.
It’s an approach we saw Microsoft attempt with TikTok. While not successful, a TikTok deal would have offered Microsoft valuable data and an outlet for its myriad of other services, and also act as a giant ad for its partners and resellers that try to convince businesses to go with Azure and not AWS.
Microsoft has acquired some significant companies under CEO Satya Nadella. A $7.5 billion deal saw GitHub join Microsoft a few years back, and Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn was Nadella’s first major acquisition. Microsoft is also in the late stages of finalizing its Bethesda acquisition, valued at $7.5 billion.