kenmichaels

An app created by a UK teenager has been acquired by web giant Yahoo in a deal the BBC understands to be worth "dozens of millions" of pounds.

BBC News - Yahoo spends 'millions' on UK teen Nick D'Aloisio's Summly app

I remember the buzz when he first came out with this, he wrote an
article on his plans, and what he did, then it was on the news.

Last year i think.

Any way, stories like this help to keep the dream alive

Shane Bellone

Another self-made teen millionaire! I'm a little bit jealous. Thanks for sharing.

KimuraL

lol, just continue trying and learning (though it needs some element of luck), probably you are the next one appear on the news

NewParadigm

So it is an RSS reader for mobile?

In a moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

socialentry

Wow.

Good on him.

kyusho77

Every time when I hear stories like that I'm saying to myself why didn't I think of making or doing something like that. Why...?

webcosmo

Good for him. But we can`t be all millionaires, then who would work? But we gotta keep hoping

mjbmedia

pretty much so it seems having read a bit about it over here in the UK

See to me thats nothing special, its nothing new or at least not groundbreaking, wtf Yahoo needed to spend all that when they could have just made their own for far less surely , weird business decision.
Not that I'm technical at all it has to be said.

Mike

Nail Yener

As far as I know, that app was downloaded by over 1 million iPhone users. No idea how it is monetized or what plans Yahoo has with it but I think this was a nice move for them. The quick cash smells nice but I always feel sorry for the creator whenever I hear such large-scale acquisition stories.

tjaysen70

yeah this is a killer story and although much of it was in stock options, this kid will go on to do great things in life, so congrats to him!

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mjbmedia

the point is though, the idea, the concept, isnt new, the kid did very little to earn the money, OK time wise to develop the APP but its not like hes made an awesome new move, hell Yahoo could have gone to Odesk or similar and got it developed for less than they are paying out here.

Im sure many of us have far better' ideas and concepts' than this APP will ever develop into, the difference is (maybe) that this kid actually did it

Mike

Mobilize

I am pretty sure Yahoo can make a similar app just as good or better.
But I am guessing, maybe Yahoo bought it for the subscribers already using the app.

Amod Oke

The day isn't far when we'd be seeing a kindergarten toddler shaking hands with a billionaire CEO !

WillR

They bought the algorithm. This kid had come up with some crazy way for the app to automatically write summaries of larger new stories that all still made complete sense. That's what they were paying for.

Also keep in mind there were quite a few people heavily invested in the app including Ashton Kutcher so the creator only owned a part of it in the end.

He still would have done alright. Maybe even better if he had kept developing the app by himself. I guess he will never know now.

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RelaxFactor

Of course the idea is very important here. But as the others had already noted, no-one would buy so much money just for that idea or algorithm. They could create their own one but why should someone download Yahoo's clone if the original is good enough and has a lot of reputation?
It's just about money. If they recreate that app it will cost them lots of money... and time. Also it's even not guarenteed that their app will get the same popularity than the original. But just buying the rights on a successful app is way easier and less risky.

Supposing that it has over 1 million daily active users, it's just a way of correct monetization and they have got their whole money back in about half a year. If they use in-app advertising, they can make about 150,000 USD per day. They should have earned 30 millions after 200 days, then they are starting to generate profit.

WeavingThoughts

Probably a publicity stunt by yahoo or perhaps an insider rich kid.

CPAInter

There's another forum thread about this -- this is what's happening here.

Yahoo are purchasing the company (and subsequently shutting down the App) for Nick himself - he's going to become one of the most influential faces of Yahoo, they're going to use him to revive their sorry asses. He's going to provide a 'hip' mask for the company, they'll be able to relate to the younger, tech savvy generation further & they hope that this purchase will allow them to do that.

IF it works, this could be a multi-billiondollar payback.

Oh, and they want the technology used in the App for other software.

So you see, they don't care about the App as such -- which is evident because it's being shut down. There's so much more to it than the App.

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WeavingThoughts

What is so great in that app?

Mobilize

I was digging into Summly's acquisition and found this...

"The company developed no Natural Language Processing technology of its own.
They licensed the core engine from another company."
Source: Marco. org/2013/03/26/summly

Anyone know more about the validity of this claim?

codingku

i envy him...

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CPAInter

Read my post above. The acquisition was not actually for the App.

That being said, it's a great achievement for a 17 year old to even create an App rather than be out drinking, smoking and causing trouble.

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rjohnsen

Nick D'Aloisio Interview on Charlie Rose- he's quite bright!

rjohnsen

But this is not the first time Yahoo! paid an outrageous sum for something. How'd that work out for them?

Of couse it did put Mark Cuban on the map.

Yahoo to buy Broadcast.com for $5.7B - Apr. 1, 1999

Mobilize

Thanks for the video, just watched it.
This guy is sharp and will be going places. With $30M capital he can go anywhere.
Another Gates/Jobs in the making? Hmmnnn...

Ernies

I heard of him a few days ago and I'm quite impressed with what he did. However was it worth all the money they paid him? I don't think so, I have plenty of news apps on my phone that work great.

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CPAInter

Please read my previous post.

- Regards

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allianceprocessing

It's crazy to think of all the possibilities available in today's digital age. He's just a kid, yet he had such a simple and fantastic idea that would benefit others which caught the attention of a large corporate conglomerate. A true outstanding example of just 'keeping it simple.' Good for him.

Patrick
www.alliance-processing.com
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Wisestepp

I am quite certain that this young man shall be sued by UMBRA CORPORATION. Everyone knows that UMBRA CORPORATION owns the rights and R&D'ed that app!!

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kenmichaels

---- what? ----

Walt SEO

You're missing (an attempt of) humour in his sentence.
As for the subject itself, the application itself isn't worth the money but the fact that it has been DOWNLOADED over MILLION times is. People don't seem to understand the rough competition in app-market. Just to give you an image what we're talking about: # Downloaded = # 1 e-mail subscription.

Marketable same way but conversion will be higher. Decent apps = expensive phones = money to spend.

Everyone has an e-mail today, so e-mail leads are weak and outdated (as hell) but "mobile customers" will be groundbreaking. Yahoo knows that and saw that.

IF Yahoo was to replicate the application it would only get downloads equal to the people they market to (their older clients/users) but with this move they gain 1 million potential new users of whatever service they decide to use.

Rep in app-market is a big thing.

Boom. Mystery solved, bright kid and bright move by Yahoo.


-Valter