Meebo bought by Google to bolster its social media presence

July 31, 2016

By Talia Ralph

Social sharing and messaging service Meebo has been acquired by Google, the company announced Monday.

Meebo, a messaging and social media service, has been acquired by Google in the hopes that it will bolster the company's social network Google+, the Associated Press reported.

Though the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed with the announcement, which Meebo posted on its site on Monday, All Things Digital reported in May that Google was paying $100 million for Meebo.

‘‘We are always looking for better ways to help users share content and connect with others across the Web, just as they do in real life,’’ Google said in a statement, according to the AP. ‘‘With the Meebo team’s expertise in social publisher tools, we believe they will be a great fit with the Google Plus team.’’

Meebo, started in 2005 as a web-based messaging service, but has since developed "the Meebo bar," its flagship offering which "wraps" a web page in options that allow it to be shared to Facebook and StumbleUpon and offers recommendations for other similar sites, CNN Money reported.

Google has struggled to get its social network Google+ up to Facebook's numbers since its inception last year: though it has acquired 170 million users, it doesn't come close to Facebook's 900 million audience.

"It's really impressive how much Microsoft and Google are, in their different ways, spending on an unwillingness to leave well enough alone," wrote Matthew Yglesias, Slate Magazine's business and economics correspondent. "The Search/Maps/Mail troika of advertising platforms is a great business for Google and Windows/Office is a great business for Microsoft. But Microsoft is determined to get into search and Google is determined to get into social networking both for reasons that don't strike me as particularly well-articulated."

Since the end of 2009, Google has bought 140 companies and spent over $16 billion buying 140 companies. It's biggest deal with the acquisition of Motorola for $12.5 billion.