Post date: Jul 03, 2013 5:50:27 PM
Reuters Business Report - CEO Marissa Mayer's latest buy in her shopping spree strategically fits two of her aims in transforming and reviving Yahoo: mobile and video.
Yahoo is buying Qwiki, a mobile app that allows iPhone users to turn their photos, music and videos into short movies.
The company didn't say how much it paid, but the tech blog AllThingsD says it forked over 50 million dollars.Qwiki quickly turned its announcement into ... you guessed it, this qwiki video, hearting its new owner.
For its part, Yahoo said on its blog: "We will continue to support the Qwiki app, and the team will join Yahoo! in our New York City office to reimagine Yahoo!'s storytelling experience."
Mayer's own story since becoming CEO last year has involved buying up many small cheap app firms. Qwiki is her third purchase since May, which also saw an unusually big acquisition --- blogging service Tumblr for more than 1 billion dollars. She has been trying to make Yahoo more competitive against the likes of Google and Facebook through a string of acquisitions.
Investors have been hearting Mayer. Since she was named CEO last July, Yahoo's stock has shot up more than 60 percent.
We'll get a better sense of her first full year in office when Yahoo releases its second quarter earnings on July 16. Goldman Sachs is bullish, urging investors to buy call options ahead of the results, saying it sees the potential for a relief rally after the stocks' recent pullback.