Yahoo buys Snapchat rival Blink
Yahoo has bought Snapchat rival Blink in the latest of a string of deals designed to bring tech talent to the company and help boost mobile content and advertising revenues.
By Sarah Vizard
The mobile messaging app, which allows users to send messages that self-destruct after a certain period, will be shut down in the coming weeks, with its seven-person team sent to work on Yahoo’s “smart communication” products. The team also includes former Google employees.
Yahoo has bought close to 40 start-ups since chief executive Marissa Mayer came on board two years ago. It has focused particularly on mobile in response to the growing number of people accessing the web using tablets and smartphones.
Mobile messaging is a huge growth area, with apps such as Snapchat, WhatsApp and Viber attracting hundreds of millions of users. Facebook recently bought WhatsApp for $19bn and is rumoured to have tried to buy Snapchat for around $3bn.
Facebook launched its own self-destruct messaging app, Poke, last year. However, it shut down the service last week.
Brands are increasingly experimenting with marketing on mobile messaging apps. Unilever was one of the first to trial using Snapchat as a marketing platform last year with a campaign for its Lynx brand.
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