Reliable sources are reporting that SearchFox, which announced that it will be shutting down as of January 25, 2006, has sold its assets to Yahoo. At least some of the employees have moved over to Yahoo as well.
There is no indication of price. It is unclear whether this was a straight acquisition resulting in the announced shutdown, or if Yahoo stepped in after the announcement for an opportunistic deal. Regardless, it’s nice to now that the SearchFox product will (or may) live on.
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Web 2.0 is Yahoo! 2.0 indeed…
This is good news. As a fellow entrepreneur, it is nice to know that Richard and Russell will receive some type of compensation as opposed to closing the doors and taking nothing but a loss. Also, the users that loved the product will most likely still be able to use the service. By the way Michael, I’ve been reading your blog since its inception..and I’m living in Brasil for a few months now..when my Internet connection was finally installed in my apartment, Techcrunch was my first stop…spent all day catching up! Keep in the great work. This site is one of my few daily must reads.
Eric,
Wow, thanks very much for the compliment. I agree, this is good news.
Wow! This is the news I was waiting to hear. I too read Techcrunch daily. It is the highest rated blog in my Searchfox list.
Very good news. It seems that SearchFox has more than a share of fans here and there… It’s the best web based aggregator I’ve tried, that’s for sure.
I’m looking forward to hearing some details on the future of the platform. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Well I do not mind about who buys or who funds. What I know is that SearchFox reader is a great product, they have developed a great tool, and now that I have used it, I can’t come back to my old reder.
Hope I can keep on using it very soon!
Thanks for the news.
Sweet! Let’s hope RSS-SearchFox reincarnates in a better product than it already is, as well as a domain more suitable for it =)
I’ve known about this for a week now but couldn’t run with it.. wasn’t given permission. Another source tells me the deal wasn’t for a lot of cash (but still might be good for the founders).
We’ll see…
Kevin
Usually, when a company’s assets are purchased, it means nothing is allocated to the founders. It is normally a lead-up to bankruptcy. The article suggests SearchFox was closing the doors next week anyway, so Yahoo! purchased whatever assets it valued ahead of the auction for the furniture.