Facebook has just acq-hired the two founders of MailRank, Bryan O’Sullivan and Bethanye Blount, as they’ve just announcedon their blog. Prior to Facebook, Sullivan and Blount worked at Linden Labs, the company behind Second Life. They will be joining Facebook’s engineering and infrastructure teams.
From their blog:
“We started MailRank to focus on the email that matters, combining powerful technology with a simple interface. It’s been rewarding to build a solution to problems people face every day. At Facebook, we’ll be working with a first-class team on our favorite types of technology problems while supporting a great product people use every day.”
“We’re happy to confirm that we’ve hired Bryan O’Sullivan and Bethanye Blount, the co-founders of MailRank,” Facebook said in a statement, “Both have stellar track records as engineers and entrepreneurs, and we’re looking forward to welcoming them to Facebook in December,”
Facebook is notoriously voracious in its talent acquisitions, most recently acquiring beloved iPad publishing platform Pushpop Press and software design company Sofa. As with many Facebook talent acquisitions; None of the assets or technology behind MailRank were acquired. The MailRank product itself, which never publicly launched, will be discontinued.