Confirmed: Google Buys Social Search Engine Aardvark
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Updated: Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has bought social search engine Aardvark, we have confirmed. TechCrunch, which first reported the deal, puts the price at roughly $50 million.
SEE ALSO: Google Tries To Get Social With ‘Buzz’
A Google spokesman tells us that while the company has signed a “definitive agreement” to buy Aardvark, it isn’t sharing additional details. Mechanical Zoo, the San Francisco company behind the creation of the Aardvark service, was founded by several former Google execs, including business dev staffer Max Ventilla and ex-Google News product manager Nathan Stoll. It had raised about $6 million in funding from angels, as well as from August Capital and Baseline Ventures.
Google’s addition of Aardvark represents the company’s latest social media move. This past week, Google said it would add a new social media function to Gmail, called ‘Buzz,’ which lets users share status messages, videos, photos and links.
On Aardvark, users can ask questions and get immediate answers from their friends and those connected to them. The company claims that 87.7 percent of all questions that have been asked on the service have been answered.
This is Google’s seventh purchase since August—and more are coming. During the company’s earnings call last month, CEO Eric Schmidt said the company would continue on its recent pace of buying about one company each month.
@davidaKaplan
Joseph Tartakoff
@josephtartakoff
Feb 11, 2010 12:26 PM ET
Photo:
Manfrys
Posted In: Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, Social Media, Technologies / Formats, Companies, Google, aardvark
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