Yahoo purchases the Summly app, which summarises news stories from popular media companies, from its 17-year-old creator Nick D’Aloisio
An app designed by a British teenager has been snapped up by internet giant Yahoo in a lucrative deal thought to be worth millions of pounds.
Yahoo purchased the Summly app, which summarises news stories from popular media companies, from its 17-year-old creator Nick D’Aloisio.
The price of purchasing the app has not been unknown, but industry experts have suggested it could be between £20 million and £40 million.
On top of this Mr D’Aloisio has landed himself a job at Yahoo, as well as studying for his A-Levels.
The app automatically reduces lengthy online news stories and features into summaries to make them more easily comprehensible on mobile devices.
The app reached number nine in the free iPhone app chart last November and offers users a quick and easy way of finding news stories on the internet.
Mr D’Aloisio said he was “delighted” about the deal.
In a message on the Summly website, he wrote: “I am delighted to announce Summly has signed an agreement to be acquired by Yahoo!
“After spending some time on campus, I discovered that Yahoo! has an inspirational goal to make people’s daily routines entertaining and meaningful, and mobile will be a central part of that vision. For us, it’s the perfect fit.
“When I founded Summly at 15, I would have never imagined being in this position so suddenly.”
The Summly app and its features will be integrated into Yahoo’s mobile initiatives and will now be closed from the Apple Inc store.
The purchase of Summly comes just a fortnight after Google announced it is planning to withdraw its RSS reader application Google Reader as of July.
The Yahoo purchase of Summly has been seen by some as an effort to fill the gap left by Google Reader.