Google Is Buying Meebo, The Online-Chat Startup That Reinvented Itself As An Ad Play

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-buying-online-chat-company-meebo-for-100-million-2012-6

Google is buying Meebo, a company originally known for its Web-chat client.

Meebo subsequently introduced a new advertising format, the Meebo Bar, which is distributed on popular websites like EW.com.

More recently—and mysteriously—it introduced a new service for consumers which seemed to position the company in the field of social discovery.

So Google might be buying Meebo to bolster its online-advertising business. Or it might be keen on Meebo's social-discovery tools to bolster Google+.

Or both.

AllThingsD had reported Google's interest last month, putting the purchase price at around $100 million.

Interestingly, Meebo seems to have had mass layoffs in its New York office just before the acquisition was announced. A commenter tipped us that "90% of the New York office was let go," and TechCrunch confirmed layoffs in Meebo's sales and marketing departments. Most of the remaining Meebo team will head to Google+.