Ben Silbermann is a billionaire donor and former technology executive who co-founded the social media sharing site Pinterest and served as its CEO from its founding until stepping down from the company in 2022. Together with his wife Divya Silbermann, he has signed Warren Buffett’s “Giving Pledge” where high net worth individuals pledge to donate over half their wealth to nonprofit organizations and charities. ¹

Silbermann is worth an estimated $1.4 billion and has contributed to the campaigns of multiple Democratic candidates including the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Since he stepped down as CEO of Pinterest, Ben and Divya Silbermann founded a grantmaking foundation called Tambourine, which initially donated to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) awareness organizations in 2022. ^{2 3 4}

Early Life and Education

Ben Silbermann was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa and attended high school at the Des Moines Central Academy and underwent heart transplant surgery while in high school. He attended Yale University for his undergraduate education, earning a degree in political science. Following college, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area where he worked as a developer at Google before leaving to design phone apps. ⁵

Pinterest

Ben Silbermann and co-founders launched Pinterest in 2010 as a social media platform where users can “pin” pictures and “do the internet equivalent of window shopping.” Since its founding the company has grown to serve over 320 million global users and went public in 2019 under the stock ticker PINS with a $10 billion valuation. The growth of Pinterest led Silbermann to becoming a billionaire, and his net worth was estimated to be roughly $1.4 billion by Forbes in 2022. ^{6 7}

Silbermann has described an effort he led at Pinterest to suppress content that could potentially be seen as misinformation. After Pinterest noticed an increase in people searching for information on vaccines, he made the decision that Pinterest would not surface any content around vaccines and later decided to prioritize content from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other “top public health organizations.” Regarding his role in moderating and suppressing certain content, Silbermann stated, “We think that content actually has an impact on people’s lives. And so if you don’t take some responsibility for what people see, you’re at some level responsible for the downstream consequence.” ⁸

Political Donations

Ben Silbermann and his wife Divya Silberman have contributed to multiple Democratic political campaigns. He and his wife both contributed $2,800 each to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. In 2016 they contributed $12,500 each to the Hillary Victory Fund and $2,700 each directly to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. The couple has also donated to the Democratic National Committee, the Win the ERA PAC, and unsuccessful 2020 congressional candidate Brynne Kennedy (D) in California’s 4^th district. ⁹

Grantmaking Activity

In 2022 Ben Silbermann announced plans to step down as the CEO of Pinterest and focus more time on philanthropy. He and his wife Divya Silbermann, who is a former web developer for tech companies including Facebook, signed the “Giving Pledge.” The couple also started a charitable foundation called Tambourine, which is headed by Divya Silbermann and made early contributions to ALS-related nonprofits upon its founding in 2022 including the Gold West Chapter of the ALS Association. ^{10 11}

1.  Jurberg, Ash. “The Des Moines billionaire promising to give away his fortune. Newsbreak. May 3, 2022. Accessed August 17, 2022. https://original.newsbreak.com/@ash-jurberg-560946/2590431429505-the-des-moines-billionaire-promising-to-give-away-his-fortune
2. “Ben Silbermann.” Forbes. Accessed August 17, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/profile/ben-silbermann/?sh=2250f0b7644d
3. “Ben Silbermann and Divya Silbermann” FEC Individual Contributor Lookup. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=ben+silbermann&contributor_name=divya+silbermann
4. Jurberg, Ash. “The Des Moines billionaire promising to give away his fortune. Newsbreak. May 3, 2022. Accessed August 17, 2022. https://original.newsbreak.com/@ash-jurberg-560946/2590431429505-the-des-moines-billionaire-promising-to-give-away-his-fortune
5. ^[1] Jurberg, Ash. “The Des Moines billionaire promising to give away his fortune. Newsbreak. May 3, 2022. Accessed August 17, 2022. https://original.newsbreak.com/@ash-jurberg-560946/2590431429505-the-des-moines-billionaire-promising-to-give-away-his-fortune
6. “Ben Silbermann.” Forbes. Accessed August 17, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/profile/ben-silbermann/?sh=2250f0b7644d
7. “Ben Silbermann.” Forbes. Accessed August 17, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/profile/ben-silbermann/?sh=2250f0b7644d
8. Meyer, Anna. “CEO Ben Silbermann on Why Pinterest Has a Responsibility to Make the Internet a Better Place.” Inc. Accessed August 21, 2022. https://www.inc.com/anna-meyer/pinterest-ben-silbermann-internet-better-place.html
9. “Ben Silbermann and Divya Silbermann” FEC Individual Contributor Lookup. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=ben+silbermann&contributor_name=divya+silbermann
10. McEvoy, Jemima. “The Giving Pledge Gains 14 New Members—Here Are The Super-Rich Vowing To Donate Most Of Their Wealth.” Forbes. December 14, 2021. Accessed August 17, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/12/14/the-giving-pledge-gains-14-new-members-here-are-the-super-rich-vowing-to-donate-most-of-their-wealth/?sh=7bf25a173774
11. “The Golden West Chapter of The ALS Association has been selected as a grant recipient from Tambourine, a new philanthropic organization made possible by the generosity of Ben and Divya Silbermann.” ALS Association Gold West Chapter. Accessed August 17, 2022. http://webgw.alsa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=GW_9_Golden_West_Chapter_Receives_Tambourine_Grant