Pinterest recently agreed to pay $34.7 million to settle a lawsuit from an early adviser who claimed she had co-created the platform without compensation.
Christine Martinez, 44, who was a friend of Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra, two of Pinterest’s three co-founders, sued the company in 2021 for breach of implied contract, idea theft, unjust enrichment and unfair business practices. She said she came up with many ideas for the app — like organizing images on “boards” — but was never paid for her contributions, despite promises she would be.
Pinterest, a virtual pinboard company that has many female users, disclosed the settlement with Ms. Martinez in a November 2024 financial filing.
“No one wants to find themselves in the litigation process, and I’m just really, really excited and frankly just relieved to be past it,” Ms. Martinez said in an interview on Friday.
“Ms. Martinez provided beneficial marketing and community growth input and strategies during the early phase of Pinterest’s founding,” according to a statement that was part of the settlement, which was provided by Ms. Martinez. “The parties are pleased to amicably resolve this legacy matter.”
Pinterest declined to comment.
The settlement follows a series of complaints and legal disputes against Pinterest by some of its female employees and executives.
In 2020, Pinterest paid $22.5 million to settle a gender discrimination suit filed by Françoise Brougher, its former chief operating officer, who said she was fired after experiencing sexist treatment at the company. That same year, more than 200 employees signed a petition demanding the company change its policies after three former workers accused Pinterest of racial and sex discrimination and retaliation.
Mr. Silbermann, who was Pinterest’s chief executive, left that role in 2022.
Ms. Martinez, who had a background in e-commerce and interior design, claimed in her lawsuit that Mr. Silbermann and Mr. Sciarra sought her advice for the company that became Pinterest a year before it was founded in 2010.
She said she came up with the idea for the picture boards and the platform’s signature “Pin it” phrase, and also helped persuade top design and lifestyle bloggers to use and promote the site. A portion of Pinterest’s programming code was named after her in homage, according to the lawsuit.
She never signed a formal contract with Pinterest, but it was implied she would eventually be compensated, she said. Pinterest went public in 2019 and has a market capitalization of more than $18 billion.
Ms. Martinez is now a board member and strategic adviser for Jingo, an online A.I. shopping platform that caters to women.
Eli Tan covers the technology industry for The Times from San Francisco.
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