Pinterest shares fell more than 8% on Wednesday to their lowest intraday level since May 21 after Chief Executive Officer Bill Ready warned of challenges facing the company’s international business.
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, Ready repeated concerns raised during Pinterest’s second-quarter conference call in August, pointing to regulatory changes in Europe and an ongoing restructuring of the company’s international operations.
Ready said Pinterest’s business outside the United States was facing pressure on two fronts.
New European regulations have placed limits on cross-border sellers from Asia, while Pinterest is also restructuring its international business and go-to-market strategy.
The company is applying lessons from changes previously implemented in the United States, where it improved its AI-based advertising platform and significantly overhauled its go-to-market approach.
“We’re basically taking that playbook from the US,” Ready said.
He acknowledged that the restructuring would create short-term difficulties but said the changes were expected to benefit the company over the longer term.
“That will create some near-term pain to restructure those things, but we think is very good for us in the medium to long term,” he added.
Ready also said Pinterest had “a lot more” work to do to improve monetisation in its international markets.
