Andre Yoskowitz
2 Aug 2013 22:35
Yahoo has paid over $60 million for the failed social browsing startup Rockmelt.
The company will shut down the app and browser, but use its engineers and technology to boost its media and mobile properties.
Rockmelt, launched in 2010 and backed by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, was originally a desktop browser that eventually become just an iOS app.
The sources say Yahoo paid mostly in cash, with some stock incentives for existing employees of the startup.
As part of the deal, Rockmelt founders (ex-Netscape engineer Tim Howes and former OpsWare employee Eric Vishria), will become head of engineering for all Yahoo mobile products and VP for media products, respectively.
"The parallels between Yahoo! and Rockmelt are obvious: we share a common goal to help people discover the best personalized content from around the web," said Yahoo product heads Mike Kerns and Adam Cahan.