Pinterest scales back IPO price in hopes to raise $1.5 billion

Pinterest has set the pricing of its initial public offering slightly below its last private-market valuation from two years ago.

The social media website updated its IPO filing with the SEC on Monday, stating that it would sell 75 million shares at a range between $15 and $17 per share when the company goes public later this year. The company plans to raise about $1.5 billion in its initial offering of shares.

The announcement puts Pinterest’s valuation at a maximum of about $11.3 billion. The company’s most recent valuation, however, was pegged at $12.3 billion when it raised funding in 2017.

With 250 million active users and around $700 million in revenue last year, the company could be lowering its expectations with a more conservative valuation.

A few weeks ago, Pinterest made an interesting claim in its IPO filing in terms of the potential risks facing social media companies as a whole.

According to Pinterest, the big social media companies, like Facebook, have made the industry somewhat volatile with its privacy and data scandals. The company says that while these issues may not affect the biggest social media companies too much, the reverberations could certainly affect companies like Pinterest.

The social pinboard platform also cited other social media platforms copying its features, again another swipe at Facebook, as another potential risk factor.

We’ll soon see just where Pinterest’s valuation lies when it goes public this spring.