Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo has bought
Distill, a technical recruiting company based in San Francisco, California. The move is seen as an attempt to strengthen Yahoo’s mobile advertising capability. In 2013 Facebook took the number two position for online advertising, a position that Yahoo had traditionally held under Google. Last year’s final quarter financial report suggested Yahoo’s display advertising revenue had experienced a 6% drop compared to the same time the previous year. Distill's seven team members will join Yahoo and work at the company’s headquarters from next week.
The acquisition is the latest in a number of purchases driven by CEO Marissa Mayer. Distill is still a start up and received $1.3 million in seed funding as recently as five months ago. The company provides video interviewing capabilities that allow employers to interview and recruit people looking for a range of technical positions. Distill’s system also allows employers to evaluate a candidate’s problem solving skills.
However, the fact that the team behind Distill was responsible for the Tapjoy mobile advertising platform is more likely the reason for Yahoo’s acquisition. The Distill website suggests, “Prior to creating Distill, we were part of the original team behind the creation of Tapjoy, a mobile performance-based advertising platform that drove deep engagement and monetization opportunities for mobile app publishers. We’ll be drawing upon our expertise from the Tapjoy days to help build out Yahoo’s mobile advertising solutions.”
The acquisition led to the immediate termination of Distill’s online services. The company’s website also suggested, “As of today, we have stopped development of Distill Schedule and Distill Interview. You will still be able to schedule interviews through the end of February, and the Distill platform will remain available through Sunday, March 30, 2014.”
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