Yahoo! buys app from British teen

Google – AFP, 25 March 2013 

Yahoo! did not disclose the terms of the deal it struck with 17-year-old Nick

D'Aloisio (Getty Images/AFP/File, Justin Sullivan)

SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo! announced plans Monday to buy mobile news reader app Summly from the London teenager who invented it, likely transforming him into one of the world's youngest self-made multimillionaires.

The company did not disclose the terms of the deal it struck with 17-year-old Nick D'Aloisio, but the London Evening Standard said Yahoo! would pay between £20 million and £40 million ($30 to $60 million).

"We're excited to share that we're acquiring Summly, a mobile product company founded with a vision to simplify the way we get information, making it faster, easier and more concise," Yahoo! said in a statement.

"At the age of 15, Nick D'Aloisio created the Summly app at his home in London. It started with an insight -- that we live in a world of constant information and need new ways to simplify how we find the stories that are important to us, at a glance."

Yahoo! said most articles and web pages were formatted for browsing with mouse clicks and that "the ability to skim them on a phone or a tablet can be a real challenge -- we want easier ways to identify what's important to us."

The California firm said that "Nick and the Summly team are joining Yahoo! in the coming weeks."

D'Aloisio said in a tweet: "@Summly has signed an agreement to be acquired by Yahoo!! Excited for the next chapter of Summly! Thanks to all who have supported me."

The Evening Standard said the Wimbledon youth, who would become one of the world's youngest technology millionaires, claims to have created the app as a hobby.

"I didn't realize it was possible to make money out of it," he was quoted as saying.

About the new inflow of cash, the youth said: "I like shoes, I will buy a new pair of Nike trainers and I'll probably get a new computer, but at the moment I just want to save and bank it. I don't have many living expenses."

Former Google executive Marissa Mayer took over at Yahoo! in July 2012 as part of efforts by the struggling Internet search pioneer to reinvent itself.