MessageMe acquired by Yahoo, reportedly courted by Snapchat
The previously popular messaging app MessageMe has just been acquired by the purple and perennial purchaser Yahoo. But another messaging company is said to have also been interested in buying the messaging startup before the exclamatory Internet firm signed the deal priced between $30 million and $40 million.
And that other company is none other than Snapchat. According to a report by TechCrunch:
While Snapchat would have made the deal at the same price as Yahoo, we understand that MessageMe chose purple for two reasons: Yahoo is acqui-hiring eight people, more than Snapchat would have done; and at Yahoo the team will get to stay together to work on a new messaging product.
Interestingly, Yahoo has just been reported to be planning on investing about $20 million in … Snapchat.
Aside from Snapchat, the company behind the caller ID and number search app Truecaller is also said to have courted MessageMe.
MessageMe announced its entry into Yahoo on its website and in an email to its users:
We built MessageMe to explore our vision of how expressive and fun online communication should be. It’s been an incredible journey and we really appreciate all the support we’ve received from all of you over the last two years. The team at Yahoo shares our passion for connecting people in inspiring ways and we’re thrilled about the impact we can make with them.
As expected of an app acquired by Yahoo, MessageMe is set to be shut down. The app is no longer available on the App Store, but the service will remain accessible until Nov. 7, 2014, when all messages, accounts, and personal data on MessageMe are scheduled to be deleted.
MessageMe was launched on iOS in March last year. It was last updated in November, a year before its scheduled shutdown.
