Twitter has acquired social media app maker Yes Inc., and then immediately designated the startup's founder as the company's new VP of product.
Yes Inc. CEO Keith Coleman, a former product manager for Google, is now Twitter's new product chief, filling a role that has been vacant since summer.
Twitter Acquisition Of Yes Inc.
Yes Inc. confirmed its acquisition through a post on its official website, where it said that the team is looking forward to bring its efforts to connecting people around the world on a much bigger scale.
Yes. Inc has created two apps, namely Frenzy and WYD. Frenzy allowed friends to connect with each other locally as an event-planning service, while WYD, which is an acronym for What You Doing, allowed friends to connect remotely.
These two apps are nowhere near as popular as Twitter, but for those who are using them, there is bad news. Yes Inc. said that it will be shutting them down over the coming weeks, as the team of six and Coleman will be focusing on their new efforts in the company that acquired them.
A spokeswoman for Twitter has declined to disclose the acquisition price for the startup, but the big news on the purchase is the addition of Coleman to the social media platform's executive lineup.
Coleman As New Twitter VP Of Product
Coleman is the sixth product chief of Twitter since 2007, and fourth since the company went public through an IPO in November 2013. The company has had nobody in the role since January, when longtime Twitter executive Kevin Weil decided to move to Facebook-owned Instagram.
Before founding Yes Inc. in 2014, Coleman worked for a decade in Google on products that include Gchat, Gmail and Inbox. With Yes Inc., Coleman looked to develop apps which could connect people both in real life and across distances.
Such a mindset with Yes Inc. could prove to be synergistic with what Twitter is now trying to do, as the social media platform is looking to close the gap between its users to initiate conversations on a wide variety of topics and in different kinds of events.
The Struggles Of Twitter
The year has been a turbulent one for Twitter, as CEO Jack Dorsey continues his mission of reinvigorating the sluggish growth in the user base of the social media platform.
There were talks that several companies were interested to acquire Twitter, but the discussions fell through for a variety of reasons. The company then reported total revenue of $616 million for the third quarter, but said that it is planning to lay off 9 percent of its workforce, equivalent to about 350 employees.
Twitter COO Adam Bain, a well-respected executive in the company, said last month that he would be stepping down from his position to be able to take some time off and explore other opportunities.
