Google buys Picnik

Online image editor acquired by search giant

2 March 2010 10:24 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Online image editor Picnik has announced that it has been acquired by Google for an undisclosed, but "very, very happy" figure. The site allows users to crop, touch-up and add effects to images, along with a cloud storage service.

However, the acquisition has raised eyebrows because the service is the main photo editing tool for the Yahoo-owned Flickr. Google has said that "openness is always the best approach" and will happily allow third parties to continue to integrate with Picnik. However, Yahoo appears to be weighing up its options - making no firm commitments either way.

And unfortunately, many of Google's acquisitions end up with products languishing in the doldrums, with staff eventually spread out to other parts of the organisation. It happened to Dodgeball. It happened to Jaiku. If you're a Picnik user, you'll be hoping that it doesn't happen to Picnik, too. We'll keep you posted.

Via: blog.picnik.com

Full tags

Software, Websites, Image editing software, picnik, Google, Acquisitions