11 posts and columns on acqhire

News Byte

Washington Post Finishes Digg Deal

in Media on May 10 at 4:00 am PT

The Washington Post has closed its deal to acquire some of Digg’s technology staff, who will go to work for SocialCode, a Washington Post subsdiary that helps marketers buy ads on Facebook and Twitter. AllThingsD had previously reported that the Digg hires would work alongside the team that built the paper’s Social Reader; that team works for WaPo Labs, a different subsidiary.

Digg’s Tech Team Heads for the Washington Post, and Digg Looks for a Lifeline

in Media on April 30 at 7:40 pm PT

Digg isn’t done. Yet. But it’s looking pretty close.
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News Byte

Twitter Buys Start-Up to Boost “Revenue Engineering Team”

in Media on April 16 at 6:40 pm PT

Twitter has “acqhired” the team behind social media analytics start-up Hotspots.io. At least three members of the start-up have joined Twitter’s “revenue engineering team” to build tools for Twitter advertisers and publishers. Hotspots.io graduated from start-up factory Y Combinator a year ago, but at that time called itself Moki.tv, a “personalized TV guide for streaming video online.”

With 500-Shareholder Concerns Gone, Will Facebook Make Big Acquisitions?

in Social on January 7, 2011 at 1:14 pm PT

Now that Facebook is giving itself permission to have 500 or more shareholders, given it expects to go public next year, the company’s acquisitions team may get the go-ahead in 2011 to pursue larger and more complicated deals.

Zynga "Acqhires" Social Web Browser Maker Flock

in Commerce on January 5, 2011 at 6:13 pm PT

Zynga has acquired Flock, a five-year-old start-up based in Menlo Park, Calif., that was working on developing a Web browser.

Twitter Triples Team in One Year, Acqhires Q&A Start-Up

in Social on December 21, 2010 at 10:01 am PT

Twitter announced today it has acquired the talent behind Fluther, a Q&A start-up, in order to beef up its efforts to help users discover content. The company specifically said this is a talent acquisition of four engineers and one designer, and that the Fluther product will remain independent, though mostly unmaintained.

Facebook Acqhirees Make a Quick Mark on Its Products

in Social on November 23, 2010 at 5:00 am PT

Facebook has a well-defined M&A strategy of bringing in talent from young, small companies and shutting down their products. But there’s also a pattern emerging for what happens to that talent. Acqhired CEOs hold prominent roles on Facebook’s product team; nearly every recent Facebook product launch seems to have been introduced by an acqhired employee.

News Corp. Adds Making Fun to Social Games Group

in Media on November 5, 2010 at 6:27 am PT

Most of the big media companies have big stakes in digital games, except News Corp. But Rupert Murdoch’s company is trying to catch up–without spending a lot of money.

News Byte

Facebook Acquires Some Location Experts With Nextstop Buy

in Media on July 8, 2010 at 1:36 pm PT

Facebook’s location service, long reported to be in the works, has yet to show up. But if and when it does, perhaps the folks at Nextstop will end up working on it. Facebook has bought the two-year-old San Francisco-based start-up, which lets users share tips about things to do and places to go (like Foursquare, sorta kinda). Nextstop will shut down its existing site in September.

RealNetworks Wants a Convergence Play–Just Like Everyone Else

in Media on January 4, 2010 at 3:30 am PT

RealNetworks figures you’re going to want to move your entertainment off the Web and onto whatever device you want, whenever you want. So do a lot of competitors.
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Why Buy When You Can Hire? Time Warner Cable Gets a Joost Guy.

in Media, September 4, 2009 at 9:40 am PT