Pinterest CRO Bill Watkins to step down at end of quarter

New Delhi: Bill Watkins, Chief Revenue Officer at Pinterest, has announced that he will leave the company at the end of the current quarter, bringing to a close a long tenure during which the platform scaled from an early-stage business to a global advertising player.

In a LinkedIn post, Watkins reflected on the company’s evolution, noting that Pinterest had “200 employees, 60M global users, and exactly $0 in revenue” when he joined, compared with its current scale of hundreds of millions of users and a large global advertiser base. “What an amazing journey it has been,” he wrote.

He highlighted key milestones during his time at the company, including its public listing, geographic expansion, the rollout of new advertising products and the use of AI-driven tools in advertising. “What’s more, it's not just about the results we delivered, but how we all worked together as one team to deliver them,” Watkins said, adding that the organisation remained “principled and values-led, always putting our user & advertiser first”.

Watkins also confirmed a leadership handover, stating, “I have known Lee Brown since our days at Yahoo, and I’m excited for him to lead the business organization on this next leg of the journey.”

Commenting on his next steps, Watkins said he plans to explore new opportunities, with a continued interest in artificial intelligence and its impact on advertising and marketing. “I love AI and the transformation it’s driving for ads & marketing. I look forward to seeing you all in my next chapter,” he added.

Watkins has held senior commercial leadership roles across global technology and media companies, with experience spanning digital advertising, sales strategy and platform monetisation.