Dive Brief:
- San Francisco-based Pinterest is snapping up Amazon veteran James Dibbo to be the social media company’s next finance chief, effective Oct. 26, according to a Monday securities filing and release.
- Dibbo will succeed Julia Brau Donnelly, who will be leaving the company Oct. 30. She is exiting after three years in the role to take the finance reins of Sierra, which calls itself a “customer-facing conversational AI platform,” according to a company blog post.
- For a little over five years, Dibbo has served as VP and CFO of global entertainment, advertising and corporate development at the Seattle-based e-commerce giant, which he joined a decade ago. Before Amazon, he served as CFO for P.F. Chang’s China Bistro for about two years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Dive Insight:
The CFO transition comes as the company vies for new advertisers and users, with CEO Bill Ready recently touting the platform’s transformation into “an AI-powered shopping assistant,” CFO Dive previously reported.
Still, though the company grew its user base to a record 640 million global monthly active users in Q2, it also reported a GAAP net loss of about $46.6 million for its second quarter, compared to net income of $38.75 million in the year-earlier period.
Citi analysts in an Aug. 5 note said a turnaround is underway even as the company faces headwinds in international markets, noting that newer tools to monetize advertising like AI Bidding and improvements related to its restructured sales force were positive developments.
In his new role at the visual search and shopping platform, Dibbo will head up Pinterest’s global finance organization including finance, accounting, FP&A, investor relations, treasury, tax and business and corporate development, according to the release.
Dibbo, 56, is a chartered accountant, who earlier in his career worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
His compensation at Pinterest will include a $650,000 annual base salary and, subject to approval, he will also receive restricted stock unit awards with an initial value of $19.98 million. Subject to his continued employment, the company expects to grant him an additional RSU award initially valued at $9 million in April 2027, according to the filing.
Ready in a statement in the release said Dibbo’s “growth mindset” and advertising experience would benefit the company in its next phase.
“James has led complex global businesses at scale, helped build high-performing teams and understands the intersection of consumer experience, shopping, advertising and technology,” Ready said. “As we continue to make Pinterest more actionable for our users and more valuable for advertisers, James will be an outstanding partner to our leadership team and Board.”
A Pinterest spokesperson declined to comment beyond the release.
