TMCnet News
Hi-tech deals(Guardian (UK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Yahoo bought Geocities in January 1999 for $3.57bn (pounds 2.4bn) in stock (then standing at $36 a share; it's now less than $27). Geocities was then the third busiest site online, principally because it had millions of "communities". In 2009, Yahoo closed it - wiping all pages. Google bought Android in August 2005 for an estimated $50m. Android was set up by Andy Rubin, who previously co-founded a mobile phone company called Danger. Google wanted a mobile phone platform using its search by default, to block Microsoft from dominating mobile search. It worked; Android phones using Google's services by default made up about 45% of shipments worldwide in the last quarter. (Another 30% use Android, but don't use Google's services.) A Google executive in 2010 said buying Android was "the best deal ever". Microsoft bought Danger in February 2008 for $500m. Sans Rubin, Danger's Hiptop phone was nevertheless a huge success. Microsoft wanted a stopgap phone after Windows Mobile. But the corporate mismatch was colossal; the phone that resulted, the Kin, was withdrawn from sale after just 41 days. Facebook bought Instagram in April 2012 for $1bn - of which just $300m was cash. Instagram was a runaway hit with what was then an iPhone-only app, boasting nearly 30 million users on that platform alone at purchase. Apple bought mapping company Poly9 in July 2010 and 3D mapping business C3 Technologies in October 2011, both for undisclosed amounts. Its intent was to build up its mapping business ahead of the launch in September 2012 of its own maps for the iPhone and iPad. But criticisms of location errors, distorted pictures and slow updates showed that maps are harder to deliver. Twitter bought the video clip company Vine in October 2012 for an undisclosed amount. Like Facebook's purchase of Instagram, it looks like a defensive move to stop users' attention leaking away to rivals such as YouTube. (c) 2013 Guardian Newspapers Limited. |