Image sharing service Pinterest have announced that Bill Ready will be taking over the role of chief executive officer, after Ben Silbermann announced his resignation following 12 years of tenure.
Silbermann will remain with Pinterest, however he will be moving on to the position of executive chairman, with his responsibilities significantly reduced.
Ready spearheaded Google’s recent updates in the shopping and payment departments, having a significant role in how the company went about the sale of products on its various platforms (such as YouTube) and implementing great changes in Google Wallet, making it one of the most important platforms for users to do their online shopping.
Ready was previously employed at PayPal as a chief operating officer and held an executive position at Venmo as well. He has a highly successful track record in commerce, revealing in a way the direction that Pinterest hopes to move towards in the near future.
“Bill’s actually going to be a better CEO than I am for this next chapter,” Silbermann said to The Wall Street Journal, when speaking about these new announcements by Pinterest.
The “next chapter” will most likely see the platform move a bit more aggressively towards embracing ecommerce and becoming a space where brands can showcase and promote their products while shoppers can find what they’re looking for at the same time.
Pinterest has not been as open to change as some of the other online platforms, despite the fact that it has a user base of millions of people. But, the acquisition of Ready shows that the company is now, well, ready (excuse the pun) to head toward that direction.
“In the next phase of our journey, we will help people engage more deeply with all the inspiring products and services they find on our platform so they can build their best lives,” said Ready on his LinkedIn profile. “As someone who has spent most of my career in commerce and payments, it’s so clear to me that Pinterest has the opportunity to build something unique—something special.”
