Bill Ready

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Bill Ready
Bill Ready.jpg
Born1979 (age 45–46)
Education University of Louisville (BS)
Harvard Business School (MBA)
OccupationBusinessman
Title CEO of Pinterest
Board member of

William J. Ready (born 1979 [1] [2] ) is an American technology executive. Since June 2022, he has been the chief executive officer (CEO) of Pinterest, the visual search and discovery platform, and a member of the board of directors. He is also on the boards of Visa, and Williams-Sonoma, Inc. [3] [4] [5] During his tenure as Pinterest's CEO, its user base and valuation have grown, and the company has expanded initiatives related to online safety and promoting positive user experiences.

Contents

Prior to Pinterest, Ready was president of commerce, payments and next billion users (emerging markets) at Google from 2020 to 2022. [6] Before Google, he was chief operating officer of PayPal, and CEO of Venmo and Braintree, leading both startups from pre-revenue to billions of dollars in revenue and through their acquisition by PayPal. [7]

Ready has played a significant role in advancing digital payments, financial technology and commerce. [4] [6] [7] He has also been an advocate for youth online safety and responsible technology policies. [8] [9]

Early life and education

Bill Ready grew up in Elizabethtown, Kentucky [1] and worked as a mechanic at his parents' auto repair business from the age of 13. He graduated as valedictorian at University of Louisville where he earned a Bachelor of Science in information systems and finance. [10] Ready then went on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School. [11]

Career

Early in his career, Ready was a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company, where he advised financial technology companies. [11] Later, Ready was an executive in residence at Accel Partners, a venture capital firm. He also was the president of iPay Technologies [1] and an early engineer at two more startups, Emphesys and Netzee. [11]

Braintree and Venmo

Ready served as CEO of Braintree from its early development stage through its acquisition by PayPal in September 2013, overseeing the company's growth in mobile payment services and expansion into a multi-billion dollar revenue business. He led the build of Braintree's first payment processing product, its first native mobile payment APIs and its acquisition of Venmo in 2012 when Venmo was still in beta and had fewer than 3,000 users. In 2012, under his leadership, Braintree acquired Venmo positioning the company as a leader in peer-to-peer payment offerings and increasing its presence within the financial technology sector. [12]

PayPal

In 2013, Ready joined PayPal when its then-parent company, eBay Inc., acquired Ready's startup, Braintree Payments Solutions LLC. [7] [13] After the acquisition, Ready continued as CEO of both Braintree and Venmo. [7] [6] [3] He later led PayPal's global product and engineering organization overseeing the development and expansion of products. [13]

In October 2016, Ready was appointed PayPal's chief operating officer (COO). [7] [13] In this role, he was responsible for product, technology, engineering, and end-to-end customer experiences for PayPal's consumer, merchant, Braintree, Venmo, Paydiant, and Xoom businesses. [6] He also was the co-chair of PayPal's Operating Group with responsibility for the full profit and loss of the company. [6]

Ready served as PayPal's COO until 2019, during which time the company expanded its digital payments and financial technology operations, before his departure to join Google. [13]

Google

In January 2020, Ready joined Google as the company's new President of Commerce, Payments and Next Billion users. [6] During his tenure, he led strategies to extend digital commerce offerings and supported the company's efforts to reach a broader global user base. He worked in this role until he joined Pinterest. [3]

Pinterest

In June 2022, Pinterest announced the appointment of Ready as its new CEO, succeeding company co-founder, Ben Silbermann. [3] Under Ready, Pinterest's valuation doubled to approximately $28 billion in 2024. [1] During his time as CEO, Ready has been an advocate for advancing online safety and addressing harmful effects of social media. [8] [14] [15] [9] He has advocated for phone-free schools, digital IDs for age-verification purposes, [9] and youth online safety overall. [8]

Personal life

Ready lives in California with his wife and daughter. [1] [16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Needleman, Sarah E. (July 20, 2024). "Where Pinterest's CEO Goes for Inspiration and Ideas". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  2. ↑ "Bill Ready - Success Story of Pinterest's New CEO". StartupTalky. July 5, 2022. Retrieved September 10, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Needleman, Sarah E. (June 28, 2022). "Pinterest CEO Is Stepping Down, Google Commerce Executive to Take Top Job". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  4. 1 2 Weber, Harri (June 28, 2022). "Pinterest's new CEO is Google commerce exec Bill Ready". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  5. ↑ Calvey, Mark (September 29, 2025). "Visa names Pinterest CEO to board, snagging the guy who bought Venmo". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Perez, Sarah (December 11, 2019). "PayPal's exiting COO Bill Ready to join Google as its new president of Commerce". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Stynes, Tess (October 3, 2016). "PayPal Promotes Braintree, Venmo Executive to Operating Chief". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  8. 1 2 3 "Pinterest CEO: Big Tech must reject Big Tobacco's model and address social media harms". The Hill. January 31, 2024. Archived from the original on August 21, 2025. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 "Tech companies want teens to use their apps. Pinterest says not in school". Washington Post. January 22, 2025. Archived from the original on January 24, 2025. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  10. ↑ "Pinterest Appoints Bill Ready as CEO; Co-Founder and CEO Ben Silbermann Transitions to Executive Chairman" (Press release). BusinessWire. June 28, 2022. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 "Bill Ready - Success Story of Pinterest's New CEO". StartupTalky. July 5, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2025.[ unreliable source? ]
  12. ↑ Wortham, Jenna (August 16, 2012). "Braintree, a Payments Company, Buys Venmo for $26.2 Million". Bits Blog. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Rudegeair, Peter (June 20, 2019). "PayPal's Operating Chief to Leave Company". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  14. ↑ Murray, Nicholas Gordon,Alan. "Pinterest CEO dreams of a social network that doesn't 'prey upon the darkest aspects of human nature'". Fortune. Retrieved September 6, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ "Client Challenge". www.ft.com. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  16. ↑ "How Pinterest Is Courting Gen Z With 'Safer' Social Media". October 26, 2025. Retrieved October 27, 2025.
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