Google's acquisition of Meebo confirmed, Google+ integration inbound

It’s now been confirmed through an official blog post that Google will indeed acquire Meebo for a sum that’s not been disclosed yet. The seven-year old start-up started life as a browser-based messaging service back in 2005 and since then has branched out in to a social toolbar for sharing links and webpages across multiple social networking sites. Google has further confirmed that the existing Meebo team will be joining the Google+ team, so expect to see Google+, alongside other social networks as well very soon. What remains to be seen, though is if Google will continue to keep the existing social networks, like Facebook and Twitter in the existing Meebo social toolbar or simply add Google+ to the list? 

The official statement goes something like this, “We are happy to announce that Meebo has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Google! For more than seven years we’ve been helping publishers find deeper relationships with their users and to make their sites more social and engaging. Together with Google, we’re super jazzed to roll up our sleeves and get cracking on even bigger and better ways to help users and website owners alike. We’ve had a blast building Meebo so far and we’re really excited to start the next leg of our journey.”

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

What is Google up to?

Talks about the Google and Meebo merger started off in May when All Things D reported talks about an asking price of $100 million for the start-up. More than the web-based messaging feature, which Google already has in their Gmail web interface, they will most likely be interested in the social toolbar and other sharing aspects of Meebo, which they could transform in to a new upcoming product. Since Google+ didn’t exactly take off like they expected it to, this could be their way of trying something new.

This is what a Google spokesperson had to say regarding the purchase, “We are always looking for better ways to help users share content and connect with others across the web, just as they do in real life. With the Meebo team’s expertise in social publisher tools, we believe they will be a great fit with the Google+ team. We look forward to closing the transaction and working with the Meebo team to create more ways for users to engage online.”