What happened

Shares of Pinterest (PINS -0.36%) fell more than 33% in 2022 and are down a brutal 70% at this writing from the all-time high reached, all the way back in early 2021. 

But since bottoming out on June 14, 2022, Pinterest stock went on a bit of a tear, closing the year up 41.2% from that low. Its shares have continued to gain since, too, up almost 57% at this writing from the June 14 low. 

So what

Like many high-growth tech and internet stocks, Pinterest shares skyrocketed during and right after the coronavirus pandemic. But since the peak in the spring and summer of 2021, they have fallen sharply as growth has slowed, and the company's ability to make the most of its platform as a space for advertisers has come into question.

We also saw Pinterest shares spike in October 2021 on rumors that it was in talks with payments giant PayPal about a potential acquisition. Those talks fizzled, likely in part because of the massive backlash from PayPal investors. Pinterest also saw one of its co-founders leave the company that year, creating even more uncertainty in its future prospects and direction. 

But the beginning of the big run-up in Pinterest shares corresponds with what is likely the most important change at the company in years: the hiring of Bill Ready as its CEO. Ready, a former executive at Google parent Alphabet, where he led important e-commerce and payments businesses, is expected to help leverage Pinterest's potential as a platform for and partner for brands and retailers focused on e-commerce. 

Interesting to note: Before Ready's time at Alphabet, he was chief operating officer at PayPal and CEO of Venmo. 

Now what

Ready became Pinterest CEO in late June 2022, so we don't yet have a lot of reported data to evaluate his impact yet. The company has only really reported one quarter -- the third quarter of 2022 -- where he was in charge, and he wasn't at the company even the full quarter. We do know that Pinterest has rolled out a shopping API in the quarter, giving merchants and brands a lot more capability to actually use Pinterest as a sales platform, not just a marketing tool. 

And that's a good start, though it was something Pinterest was already working on. Ready's job, more than anything, will be to make sure Pinterest has the right leaders in place to implement and operate in this increasingly important area, while remaining an important platform for brands to use for marketing; advertising should remain a core part of Pinterest's capabilities. Ready's biggest responsibility as CEO is looking at the markets Pinterest can best compete in, set the company's strategic direction, and then allocate its resources to win. 

Whether he's the right leader to replace co-founder Ben Silbermann, and lead Pinterest to an even bigger future, remains to be seen.