Yahoo has bought Summly, the mobile news reader app founded by a young British entrepreneur.
In a statement, the London-based company said it had bought the small outfit, which will close its app. The price was not disclosed â€" I will try to find out soon enough. But the company had been seeking additional funding recently at a huge valuation, in stark contrast to its small size (and nascent business model).
Previously, ATD reported in December that Yahoo was looking at the startup. As we noted then, Yahoo was looking at trendy mobile “acqhires†to give the sleepy Silicon Valley Internet giant some sizzle and improve its moribund mobile offerings.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has been buying up a range of small mobile startups, largely for their teams of talented and innovative engineers.
Said Yahoo: “Founder Nick D’Aloisio and the Summly team are joining Yahoo! in the coming weeks. While the Summly app will close, we will acquire the technology and you’ll see it come to life throughout Yahoo!’s mobile experiences soon. We’re not disclosing purchase price or other terms of the deal.â€
News readers have been getting snapped up of late. CNN acquired Zite for $20 million in 2011, while we reported that LinkedIn was in the midst of buying Pulse for upwards of $50 million.
The 17-year-old D’Aloisio created the high-profile news reading app, which garnered much attention in the last year in the mobile space, which is probably what attracted Yahoo to it.
As I wrote:
To get an idea of the adorable hip factor involved, here’s a really clever video D’Aloisio did with actor Stephen Fry, who is also an investor in the startup:
Summly Launch from Summly on Vimeo.
