Yahoo! on Thursday announced that it bought a
smartphone application maker whose backers included singer Justin
Bieber, in its first acquisition orchestrated by new chief Marissa
Mayer.
The purchase of New York City-based Stamped
was part of a focus on tailoring products, content and services to
smartphones, tablet computers and other gadgets central to Internet Age
lifestyles, according to Yahoo! senior vice president of emerging
products and technology Stamped.
"Mobile is at the center of everything we do,
every day, and at Yahoo!, it's become one of our most important
priorities," Cahan said in a blog post.
"We've acquired a very talented team based in
New York City to help us create a new center of mobile product
development for Yahoo!."
Mayer marked the acquisition by posting at
Instagram a picture of her at the Stamped headquarters with the
startup's founding trio: former Google employees Robby Stein and Bart
Stein, and Kevin Palms.
Mayer left Google in July to take over as
chief of Yahoo!, which has been struggling to re-invent itself after
being eclipsed by Google in the online search market.
Mayer joined Google in 1999 as its 20th
employee "and led efforts for many of Google's most recognizable
products, including the development of its flagship search product and
iconic homepage for over 10 years."
"As a team of mostly former Googlers, we've
all worked with and are big fans of Marissa," the founders said in a
message posted at the Stamped website.
"So when an opportunity arose to become a part of the team at Yahoo!, we jumped."
Stamped was founded about 18 months ago and
in November released its first smartphone application that people can
use to use "stamps" to show friends which films, shows, restaurants or
other things they enjoyed.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
© 2012 AFP
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© 2012 AFP
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