Microsoft approached Pinterest [1]"in recent months" about acquiring the social-media company, the Financial Times reported earlier this week. Thought the talks are no longer active, according to the FT, the move -- if accurate -- makes some of us Microsoft watchers shout into our quarantined spaces "WHY, MICROSOFT, WHYYYYY?" (OK, maybe just me. But the question is still real for a number of us.)
Microsoft is an enterprise software and services company that also has had success in gaming. Microsoft's attempts to try also become a major consumer-focused force have largely not gone well[2]. That hasn't stopped Microsoft from looking for ways to try to parlay its enterprise success into the consumer space. There's even a Microsoft business unit called Modern Life and Devices[3] dedicated specifically to this mission.
Microsoft execs over the years have said repeatedly that Microsoft can't afford to concede the consumer market. I don't mean financially concede, though I'm sure it would pain them to leave money on the table. But strategically concede because kids, students and other non-business customers could and hopefully will, one day, evolve into business customers. And if Microsoft doesn't go after this group of people, its competitors will. And that will put Microsoft's business franchises at risk. So goes the public reasoning for Microsoft's consumer obsession....
Microsoft avoided a major headache last year when it had to scrap its bid for TikTok. Though many of us tried to come up with a plausible list of reasons why the Microsoft-TikTok deal wasn't complete lunacy[4], doing so was challenging.
Some of the possible reasons for Microsoft's alleged interest in Pinterest are similar to those we mulled when thinking about TikTok's potential appeal.