THE WHAT? Microsoft has approached Pinterest with a view to acquiring the US$51 billion social media site, according to a report published by the Financial Times.

THE DETAILS Talks are not currently active, the Financial Times reports, quoting sources familiar with the matter, and Pinterest has long emphasized its desire to remain independent.

THE WHY? Microsoft has been in the market for a prominent social media platform for some time, having failed to buy out the US branch of TikTok last year. An online community with monthly users totalling 459 million would boost the tech firm’s Azure cloud platform and prove a useful source of data for marketing purposes, the Financial Times reports.