Dive Brief:
- Pinterest CFO Julia Brau Donnelly is departing for another opportunity after three years in the top financial seat, according to a Friday securities filing — putting a spotlight on the social media platform’s ability to continue the strong growth seen throughout her tenure. She will be leaving to take a position at a private early-stage company, Pinterest confirmed to CFO Dive in an email.
- Donnelly will step down from her role at the San Franscisco, California-based social media platform effective Oct. 30 and will work to ensure an orderly transition. Pinterest appointed Vikram Naidu, currently its VP of finance and business operations, to the role of interim CFO effective Oct. 30, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company has begun an external search process to identity a permanent successor.
- “Julia has made a real difference at Pinterest. During her time here, she has helped strengthen our business and has been an important partner to me, the Board, and teams across the company,” CEO Bill Ready said in an internal memo to employees sent to CFO Dive. “Her leadership helped support a period in which we delivered 11 consecutive quarters of double-digit revenue growth, significantly increased operating rigor and expanded margins to ensure the ongoing health of our business.”
Dive Insight:
Donnelly joined Pinterest in 2023 after seven years at furniture retailer Wayfair, where she held roles including VP, global head of finance and accounting and head of corporate finance, according to her LinkedIn profile. She started her career as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley.
Her successor, Naidu, will assume interim CFO duties alongside his current responsibilities, the company said.
Naidu joined Pinterest in his current role in March 2024 from Verkada, an AI-powered security provider where he served as VP of finance, according to his LinkedIn profile. He previously spent seven years at rideshare company Lyft in positions including VP of finance and head of FP&A, and has held top finance roles for higher education program provider Chegg.
The CFO transition puts a spotlight on Pinterest’s future growth, with Donnelly stepping down as the company continues to vie for new users and advertisers with platforms including Facebook and Instagram owner Meta: betting big on AI to do so.
Incorporating the technology into “the core of everything we do” is one of three key strategic priorities Pinterest has continued to show strong progress on, Ready said during the company’s second quarter earnings call on Aug. 4.
AI has played a critical role in Pinterest’s efforts to increase its monthly users, for example, which grew 11% year-over-year for the quarter ended June 30 to reach 640 million globally.
That marks the 11th consecutive period of double-digit user growth, Ready said, with Gen Z representing the company’s largest and fastest-growing segment — accounting for over half of its user base.
“AI has been at the heart of this momentum,” Ready said, according to a transcript. “We've transformed Pinterest into an AI-powered shopping assistant. Effectively, every pin a user sees is personalized and served by AI.”
Pinterest also recently inked an extension of its existing partnership with Amazon Web Services, committing $4 billion for continued cloud services — the largest infrastructure deal in the San Franscisco, California-based company’s history, according to the June 4 release.
The deal, which extends the working relationship through 2031, is “structured to support Pinterest's next phase of growth across AI model training, inference, and platform infrastructure,” according to the release.
While AI has helped to contribute to strong user growth, it’s also contributed to rising costs. Pinterest reported approximately $1.1 billion in revenue for its Q2, an 18% jump YoY, but cost of revenue jumped by 25% YoY to $245 million — an increase driven from the company’s December 2025 acquisition of tvScientific and its investment in “additional GPU capacity,” Donnelly said during the call.
Operating expenses for the period also rose by 13%, primarily due to investment in sales headcount, brand campaign expenses and R&D to support its AI and product initiatives, she said.
“As we discussed entering 2026, we have more work to do so our revenue consistently reflects the strength of our user activity,” Donnelly said.
Pinterest’s “primary area” of investment for its Q3 will be sales and marketing as well as R&D surrounding its AI and product initiatives, she said.
Pinterest forecast lowered growth for its third quarter, expecting revenue in a range between $1.19 billion to $1.21 billion, or YoY growth between 13% and 15%, according to its earnings report. Donnelly credited the slower growth to headwinds including a modest impact from foreign exchange rates and the lack of a tailwind from the World Cup compared to the previous quarter.
