Trump Tariffs Hit Pinterest’s Ad Revenues

The numbers

$1.32 billion — Q4 revenue, up 14% year-over-year (YoY), slightly under LSEG analysts’ projections of $1.33 billion. Full-year revenue for 2025 came in at $4.22 billion, up 14% over the same period.

$541.5  million — Adjusted EBITDA for the period, coming in short of Wall Street’s expected $550 million.

619 million — Global monthly active users, a spike of 12% YoY in Q4. User growth accelerated in the second half of 2025, and Gen Z now accounts for over half of all Pinterest users.

The watercooler talk

Pinterest shares fell around 20% in after-hours trading after the company reported a fourth-quarter earnings miss and weaker-than-expected first-quarter revenue guidance.

On a call with investors Thursday evening, CEO Bill Ready said the company is disappointed in the poor revenue performance.

He cited Trump-era tariffs for a cooling effect on ad spend, noting, “Many of the largest retailers have been disproportionately impacted by tariffs and have been pulling back on advertising spend across the industry as they seek to protect their margins.”

Pinterest’s large share of major retailers has resulted in it feeling a greater impact, he said. 

Despite the drawback, the company’s advertising business has matured in the last year. It expanded its measurement capabilities and added more automation with its AI-powered campaign management platform Pinterest Performance+. Pinterest also announced in December that it will acquire tvScientific, indicating that it plans to get into the CTV game in a more serious way. 

The platform’s AI investments have also improved its commerce capabilities as it tries to become a more full-funnel platform. Pinterest Assistant, for instance, is an AI-backed shopping companion that lets users search and buy products using text or voice prompts. AI-powered visual search continues to be a core focus, Ready said. 

Pinterest hopes that investing in more advanced AI capabilities for merchants and advertisers will help it make up lost ground on revenue. It will also look to woo mid-sized enterprises and small-to-medium businesses for more ad dollars.

“These advertisers who, on our platform, range from roughly 30 billion down to tens of millions in annual GMV [gross merchandise value], continue to represent a significant opportunity for us to scale advertiser demand,” Ready said.

Pinterest’s fourth-quarter earnings arrive as the company is undergoing major organizational upheaval, laying off some 15% of its staff this winter as part of a strategic pivot toward AI.

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