Yahoo has acquired mobile news aggregator Summly. Set-up by 17-year-old Nick D'Aloisio two years ago from his home in London, Summly sorts news by topics in quick bites for smartphones. The start-up works closely with News Corp and is backed by Chinese investor Li Ka-Shing and angel investors including actor Ashton Kutcher and artist Yoko Ono.
Financial terms related to the deal have not been officially disclosed. However, technology blog AllThingsD, citing anonymous sources, reports that Yahoo paid around USD 30 million to acquire Summly.
D'Aloisio said Yahoo would use the technology that powers Summly to reinvent the delivery of information such as news, weather, stocks and finance for mobile devices.
Yahoo said it will shut down the Summly app but will integrate the company's natural language processing and machine-learning technology across Yahoo's various online services, particularly Yahoo's line-up of mobile services.
Following the completion of the acquisition, three Summly employees will join Yahoo. According to Yahoo SVP of mobile and emerging products Adam Cahan, the transaction is scheduled for completion in the second quarter. Summly founder D'Aloisio will remain in London as Yahoo's youngest employee, Cahan added.
