Pinterest filed confidentially for an initial public offering that could debut in the public stock market as soon as June, the Wall Street Journalreported Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
The social-media company is hoping to go public at a valuation of at least $12 billion, the Journal said. When Pinterest last raised a round of private financing in June 2016, the company was valued at $12.3 billion.
Pinterest, which was founded in 2010, would join in the IPO queue a number of privately held tech giants that have held off for years from gong public. Uber, Lyft, Slack, and other well-known tech names are also planning or said to be considering IPOs in 2019, in what could be the busiest year for tech IPOs in some time.
Under the JOBS Act of 2012, companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue were allowed to submit their draft registration statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission for a confidential review. In 2017, the option was expanded to all companies.
Last fall, Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann said the company had no plans or timeline for an IPO. That changed in December, when reports indicated that the company had begun the process of choosing bankers ahead of an IPO. The Journal said Thursday that Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase would act as lead underwriters on the planned stock offering.
