Pinterest Taps Google’s Bill Ready as CEO; Ben Silbermann to Become Executive Chairman

Google president of commerce, payments and next billion users Bill Ready now has a much simpler title, CEO of Pinterest, as co-founder and CEO Ben Silbermann will transition into the newly created role of executive chairman. Ready joined Google as president of commerce in January 2020, ascending to his current role in April 2021. Prior to Google, he served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of PayPal and CEO of Braintree and Venmo. Pinterest filed its offer letter to Ready with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Silbermann wrote in the final section—under the heading, “And now for the good stuff”—" Bill, we are delighted to extend this offer to you. As a founder yourself, you have experienced this kind of transition and we have confidence that you will lead Pinterest through our next significant evolution and growth phase. We are excited to partner with you. The offer below is designed to align you with the shareholders and energize you to drive the growth of Pinterest and deliver on our aspiration to enable Pinners to move from inspiration to realization on our platform. You have the confidence of the entire board, and we are excited for you to lead the ‘Pinployees’ and continue to build on our culture, grounded in our values.” Silbermann said in his letter to Pinterest employees Tuesday, “One of my rituals to start every year is writing a list of ideas and aspirations for Pinterest. Some of those ideas turn into new products. Others result in acquisitions. This year, a top priority was identifying new leaders with skills that complement mine. I held time on my calendar every week to meet executives across a range of industries. Bill stood out. Over months of conversations and dinners, he impressed me with his insights, experience and values. Bill understands deep down that Pinterest is still early in its story. Over time, I decided he would be an outstanding CEO for our next chapter. Our board of directors met him and felt the same way.” A June 2020 admission that “parts of our culture are broken” may end up being the defining moment of Silbermann’s tenure as CEO. Ifeoma Ozoma and Aerica Shimizu Banks, two Black women who each held the title of public policy and social impact manager, both left the company in May 2020 and shared explosive allegations via Twitter about why they left the following month. Silbermann responded by admitting that the company lacked diverse representation, particularly in its senior leadership, and he implemented steps including promising to add a person of color to Pinterest’s board later that year—keeping that promise with the appointment of Skywalker Holdings president Andrea Wishom that August—and saying recruiting plans for senior-level roles were “baked into” the core role expectations and performance reviews for the company’s leadership team. He wrote in an email to employees at the time, “What I’ve learned over the past few weeks is that parts of our culture are broken. Truthfully, I didn’t understand just how much work we have to do. That’s not an excuse, that’s a failure in leadership, and I’m truly sorry for letting you down. I’m grateful that so many of you had the courage to share your experiences honestly and openly.” Silbermann wrote in Tuesday’s email, “As you can imagine, this was a hard decision. So much of my heart belongs to Pinterest. I guess you could call it a founder’s love. And when you care about something so much, the natural instinct is to hold it as tight as you can. But often, the most loving thing to do is let it go and watch it flourish in new ways. That’s what is going to happen with Bill at the helm.” And Ready said in a statement, “There’s no better time to join Pinterest. I have long admired the brand and platform that Ben and the Pinterest team have created and everything the company stands for. I am excited to build on that foundation to further scale the company’s ecosystem and drive increased value for shareholders. Having built multiple businesses from zero and operated at the scale of billions of users, I have a deep appreciation for what it takes to scale a business like this to the next level. I look forward to working closely with Ben, the board and the rest of the leadership team to capitalize on the many opportunities ahead and usher in Pinterest’s next chapter of growth and success.”

C-Suite

Pinterest Taps Google’s Bill Ready as CEO; Ben Silbermann to Become Executive Chairman

Prior to Google, Ready served as executive vp/COO at PayPal, CEO of Braintree, Venmo

David Cohen

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

David Cohen