Joynt: Yahoo acquires mobile news reader Summly

Jordan Joynt

Today, Yahoo! announced the acquisition of news aggregator startup Summly, following a string of mobile acquisitions including Stamped and Jybe.

Summly was founded by Nick D’Aloisio in his London home at 15 years old. The app works by giving simple and concise ways of viewing news stories, making it easy to skim through multiple articles.

The company partnered with nonprofit research institute SRI International to build the app. SRI International conducts research and development for various industries.

“Summly came to SRI International with a core concept to solve the information overload problem, which is especially challenging for mobile devices because of their limited screen size,” said David Israel, Ph.D., program director in the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI International. “Building on SRI’s expertise in machine learning and natural language processing, the Summly team is creating a new type of content, providing understandable and relevant summaries tailored for mobile devices.”

AllThingsD reports that Yahoo paid around $30 million for the company. The acquisitions stem from Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s new plan focusing on mobile and PC technology.

“Mobile devices are at the center of how we engage with the people, experiences and interests we love,” said Adam Cahan, SVP of Mobile and Emerging Products in a blog post. “Across Yahoo!, we’re focused on creating beautiful experiences that people are excited to use every day — products that inspire and delight.”