Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) has continued its tradition of closing down companies that it acquires. Face.com, which develops facial identification technology, and was acquired by Facebook last month for $60 million, has announced on its website that it is closing down its existing products and services to external developers and delivering its iPhone app so that it can focus on new products at Facebook.
The company, which was founded in 2007 by CEO Gil Hirsch, CTO Yaniv Taigman, chairman Moti Shniberg, and director Eden Shochat, said that its KLIK facial technology app has been removed from the iOS app store and offers users the opportunity to download their data before the app is shut down. KLIK, which was launched at the start of 2012, had allowed uses to tag photos directly from friends Facebook pages.
The closing down of Face.com is no major surprise. In previous acquisitions by Facebook, the company's senior management has been transferred to Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California and all independent activities have been halted including use of an independent brand.
With the exception of the very large acquisition of Instagram, Facebook has closed down all the other companies it bought. This includes its first and only other acquisition in Israel, Snaptu, which was acquired in March 2011 for $70 million. Snaptu's app provides ordinary mobile phones (not smartphones) easy access to social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 8, 2012
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