Another year, another Facebook buyout. Link-sharing apps Branch and its sister app Potluck have been acquired by Facebook for an estimated US$15m, which will see Potluck integrate some of its technology with Facebook’s.
As part of the deal, the eight-person team behind the apps that help users share information and articles with people in their social circles and online, will help develop Facebook’s ‘Conversations group’, which will aim to recreate the idea of helping people connect with others around their interests. The figure of US$15m was estimated by a source of The Verge.
In an announcement today on the Facebook page of Josh Miller, CEO of Branch and Potluck, he described the merging of the apps with Facebook’s technical and financial clout as a vitally important step for the apps’ future: “Although the products we build will be reminiscent of Branch and Potluck, those services will live on outside of Facebook.
“In the meantime, a huge ‘thank you’ to our investors. Especially, Jason Goldman, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, Ryan Freitas, John Borthwick, and Jonah Peretti, who all spent an extraordinary amount of time with us.”
Both Branch and Potluck will continue to be available on the App Store and are expected to receive increased revenue from the acquisition.
