14 DAY TRIAL // URL shorteners were somewhat of a fad last year and everyone was getting into the game. The problem was, even back then, that the market was dominated by Bit.ly which enjoyed the ‘approval’ of Twitter as the default link shortening service on Twitter.com.
Unfortunately for Bit.ly, Twitter started using its own shortener on the site threatening Bit.ly main supply of traffic. The startup had been planning for just such a turn and is actually doing quite alright for itself. Well enough to be attractive to a number of buyers, including Yahoo, according to rumors.
The company is being courted by several web giants, according to Gigaom, including Yahoo, who has been very active on the acquisition front lately. Yahoo especially is interested in getting its hands on Bit.ly, but the talks are said to be the early stages at this point. Yahoo has been shopping around for the past few months after a long period of few acquisitions and a lot of closures.
But the company is trying to prove that it still has what it takes and it can still be at the forefront of innovation. It tried to acquire the hot location startup Foursquare, for as much as $100 million, but failed as the company opted for a new funding round instead. Yahoo is not giving up and is looking at new opportunities.
There have been others interested in Bit.ly previously, both Google and Twitter were rumored as possible buyers, but, apparently, the high price Bit.ly was asking for, in the region of $100 million, but bellow that figure, turned them away. There’s no info on how much Yahoo is willing to pay for Bit.ly. The URL shortener has been expanding and solidifying its business, but it may not be such a valuable asset for Yahoo, especially now that it’s out of the search game.