CNN has decided to sell Zite, a news reader app, to Flipboard, Zite’s biggest competitor. Flipboard, which creates a personal magazine for users based on their social network activity, will stay in business with CNN, posting original content from the news network.
Most members of the Zite team will keep their jobs, moving over to Flipboard. However, CNet reports that CEO Mark Johnson is not joining. Flipboard said that Zite will remain active as it continues to integrate Zite. Current Zite users will also be able to use their login information to create a Flipboard account.
“We're going to integrate the technology into Flipboard in the coming months," Flipboard CEO Mike McCue told the media Wednesday. “We do not plan to continue to evolve Zite, we think we should focus on a single product.”
While CNN and Flipboard did not reveal the financial terms, CNN Money reported that the deal could be worth as much as $60 million.
CNN also agreed to create original content featuring anchors Fareed Zakaria, Jake Tapper, and John King for Flipboard.
This is the latest move by Flipboard to expand its business. CNet notes that it now allows companies to post catalogs that can be used to purchase items directly and recently launched a desktop site.
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
