$PYPL.US$ is rumored to be making an offer for Pinterest, I ...

$PYPL.US$ is rumored to be making an offer for Pinterest, I am skeptical since PYPL got hammered, and after an initial huge spike in PINS it too has lost a lot of the pop it had on the rumor. If there is no news on “Merger Monday” I will be even more skeptical than before. The merger caused a lot of head scratching among the chattering class, I too was perplexed. I heard the rationale later on and it started to make a bit of sense. I have always liked the PINS potential to be an eCommerce portal, and I never understood what took $PINS.US$ so long to monetize that opportunity. PINS is uniquely suited to be involved in planning a purchase, only “Googling” has similar characteristics. Though of course it is easier to Google something than to set up a collection, and “pinning” new items. That said, using Pinterest to plan an event, build a wardrobe or decorate a home has the potential to bring a large purchase, it has a lot of value to the eTailer. Since PYPL has stated an ambition to be a superapp like they have in China, perhaps using PINS as an ecommerce portal for some businesses that it already has a payment relationship, and perhaps tying Venmo into all of this could make sense. I will keep building my PYPL position, I know that either they announce the PINS acquisition and Dan Shulman explains his plan or the acquisition doesn’t happen, either way I think it bounces back toward old highs.