Yahoo acquires mobile start-up Stamped
Stamped is Marissa Mayer's first acquistion for internet firm
Yahoo's new chief executive Marissa Mayer has made her first acquisition as head of the storied internet firm.
The acquisition of New York based start-up Stamped marks a major move for Yahoo but is in line with Mayer's recent call to move the company back to its core technologies.
"Today, we're thrilled to announce that we've acquired a very talented team based in New York City to help us create a new centre of mobile product development for Yahoo. Robby, Kevin, Paul, Bart and the entire Stamped team are a natural fit for us," said Yahoo senior vice president of emerging products and technology Adam Cahan.
"Their experience building fun, useful, personalised mobile products aligns well with Yahoo's vision to create the best everyday mobile experience for our users. They will be a great asset as we expand Yahoo's mobile efforts and build a world-class mobile development organisation."
Stamped is a nine-person start-up with its main claim to fame a mobile app which lets users recommend restaurants, books, and music by "stamping" them with their seal of approval.
With the acquisition Stamped plans to shut down its operations by the end of the year. The company will now be responsible for creating a new mobile app and New York-based engineering office for Yahoo.
"As for our team's next step, we couldn't be more thrilled to join Yahoo. As a team of mostly former Googlers, we've all worked with and are big fans of [Mayers]. So when an opportunity arose to become a part of the team at Yahoo, we jumped," said Stamped founders in a letter to company supporters.
"As entrepreneurs, it's never easy to walk away from something you built from the ground up, but the folks we met with at Yahoo are simply top-notch and we're thrilled to be joining them."
The acquisition comes following a recent Yahoo investors call in which Mayer said she planned to build a stronger mobile foundation for Yahoo.
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