Yahoo bought video app maker Ptch for $6.5 million and will shut it down January 2, according to reports.
The acquisition is also considered mainly an "acqui-hire" to garner its talented engineers and staff, according to Business Insider. Ptch, which was a startup created by two Dreamworks executives, was bought by Yahoo last week and will but shuttered next month.
One of its founders, Hans Ku, announced the acquisition on the company blog.
We launched Ptch just over a year ago. Our passion and our mission was to give you the best way to make and share beautiful movies made from the photos and videos on your phone. Well, someone noticed!Today, we’re excited to announce that Ptch will be joining Yahoo! As part of the Yahoo team, we’ll be able to focus our efforts and leverage our technology to make Yahoo’s photo and video platforms the best in the world.
The post mentioned that Ptch would end Jan. 2 and likely would bring "more exciting products through the Yahoo platform in the future." Ku is now a director of product management for Yahoo, according to LinkedIn.
Only three of Ptch's employees actually joined Yahoo, Business Insider reported. The "Instagram for videos" had 15 employees when it launched, about a third from Dreamworks, and that number quickly rose to 32 after spending $6.5 million.
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Qwiki was in talked about a possible merger, but then when it was bought by Yahoo for $50 million in June, it ended that possibility. When Yahoo finally bought Ptch for a reported $6.5 million, Ptch only had Ku and two part-time employees, according to an unnamed source.
Is $6.5 million a good buy for three employees? I think Yahoo and its users will find out soon.
