New York-based file sharing site Drop.io has just posted the breaking news of its acquisition by Facebook on its company blog. This looks like it is the latest in a series of talent acquisitions by the social giant. Before its exit, Drop.io had $9.95 million in funding, led by RRE Ventures.
From the Drop.io blog:
“Today, we’re proud to announce that we’ve struck a deal with Facebook. What this means is that Facebook has bought most of drop.io’s technology and assets, and Sam Lessin is moving to Facebook.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be winding down the drop.io service. As of this week, people will no longer be able to create new free drops, but you’ll be able to download content from existing drops until Dec. 15. Paid user accounts will still be available through Dec. 15 and paid users will be able to continue using the service normally. After Dec. 15, paid accounts will be discontinued as well.”
Drop.io allowed users to exchange files or “drops” privately with their friends through web, email, or phone. The company will be shutting off all accounts after December 15th.
As this has all the markings of an acqui-hire, founder Sam Lessin will be joining the Product Management organization at Facebook, where his fellow Harvard alumnus and friend Mark Zuckerberg is CEO. We’ve got no word on what will happen to the rest of the team.
From Facebook, “We can confirm that we recently completed a small talent acquisition for Drop.io and acquired most of the company’s assets. We’re thrilled that Sam Lessin will be joining us at Facebook.”
Drop.io was a platform for simple private exchange. It enabled users to create simple private exchange points called “drops” which could be generated in as little as two clicks. Each drop could be accessed via the web, email, phone, fax, and widgets. The service had no email signup and no “accounts.” Each drop was private and only as accessible as users chose to make them. Users could create multiple drops, add any type of media, and share or subscribe...
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