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The deal, which Blink announced on its website,
comes days after rival Snapchat settled charges with U.S.
regulators that accused it of deceiving consumers by promising
that photos sent on its service disappeared forever after a
certain period.
Blink, which was launched in April 2013, said it will shut down
its app for both iOS and Android platforms in coming weeks
following the acquisition. (http://r.reuters.com/qaq39v).
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Yahoo was not immediately available for comment outside regular
U.S. business hours.
"We built Blink because we believe everyone should be free to
show the same honesty and spontaneity in their online
conversations as they can in person," the company said.
Blink is a product of Meh Labs, a company founded by ex-Google
employees Kevin Stephens and Michelle Norgan. Meh Labs is best
known for its location-sharing app Kismet.
Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer has been stepping up the
company's efforts to build online services for the smartphones
and tablets that consumers increasingly use to access the Web.
Yahoo has acquired several small, mobile start-ups since Mayer
took over. The company has 430 million monthly users of its
mobile products.
Mobile messaging apps have drawn buyer attention in the past
year as large internet companies seek to capitalize on the
appeal of free services offered through the apps, especially in
emerging markets.
Snapchat received a $3 billion buyout offer from Facebook Inc
late last year, which it rejected. Facebook later acquired
mobile messaging app Whatsapp for $19 billion, its largest
acquisition ever.
In February, Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten Inc bought
Viber, a mobile app enabling free calls and messages, for $900
million.
(Reporting by Ankush Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Sunil Nair
and Ted Kerr)
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