 "PayPal denies pursuing acquisition of Pinterest after report of $45 bn deal")
PayPal Inc is not pursuing an acquisition of Pinterest Inc at this time, the payments company said on Sunday, responding to media reports that it was in talks to buy the digital pinboard site for as much as $45 billion.
Pinterest did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside of business hours.
Bloomberg News first reported on the companies' talks last week that was later confirmed by Reuters. A source at that time told Reuters that PayPal had offered $70 per share, mostly in stock, for Pinterest.
At that price, a deal would have been the biggest acquisition of a social media company, surpassing Microsoft Corp's $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn in 2016.
PayPal did not provide additional details in its statement.
It also did not respond to a request for comment seeking details about possible talks with Pinterest.
PayPal shares are down about 11.5% since the talks emerged, while Pinterest is up about 4.5%.
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