Yahoo! to by Summly from British teen

by news
March 20, 2015

San Francisco: Yahoo! announced plans on Monday to buy mobile news reader app Summly from the London teenager who invented it, likely transforming him into one of the world’s youngest self-made multimillionaires.

The company did not disclose the terms of the deal it struck with 17-year-old Nick D’Aloisio, but the London Evening Standard said Yahoo! would pay between 20 million pounds and 40 million pounds ($30 to $60 million).

“We’re excited to share that we’re acquiring Summly, a mobile product company founded with a vision to simplify the way we get information, making it faster, easier and more concise,” Yahoo! said in a statement.

“At the age of 15, Nick D’Aloisio created the Summly app at his home in London. It started with an insight that – we live in a world of constant information and need new ways to simplify how we find the stories that are important to us, at a glance,” it continued.

Yahoo! said “most articles and web pages were formatted for browsing with mouse clicks and that “the ability to skim them on a phone or a tablet can be a real challenge — we want easier ways to identify what’s important to us.”

The California firm said that “Nick and the Summly team are joining Yahoo! in the coming weeks.” Former Google executive Marissa Mayer took over at Yahoo! in July 2012 as part of efforts by the struggling Internet search pioneer to reinvent itself.

D’Aloisio said in a tweet: “@Summly has signed an agreement to be acquired by Yahoo!! Excited for the next chapter of Summly! Thanks to all who have supported me.”

The Evening Standard said the Wimbledon youth, who would become one of the world’s youngest technology millionaires, claims to have created the app as a hobby.”I didn’t realize it was possible to make money out of it,” he was quoted as saying.