Facebook buys Karma

[kalvin]

FYI, Karma's best mechanic is that you send a gift to a recipient without entering cc info; then when the recipient accepts, you become socially obligated to complete the payment process. It also asks the recipient for their address, so you only need to pick the item and enter their email (or FB select). It's generally a beautifully designed app.

[ceol]

I found their website to be beautifully designed as well. I had no idea what Karma was, but a single click and scroll told me exactly what it was and how it works. It's also pretty neat.

Good on these folks for making something awesome!

[frankdenbow]

Yes, this is a really good mechanic. The way they also volley back and forth with notifications on when the card is read, and prompt the recipient to send a card/gift back, all make for a great experience.

[joncooper]

Congratulations to the Karma team. I was the founding CTO of a competitor, Giftly, have thought about/worked on the space a great deal, and have been really impressed with what y'all have built. You deserve it.

[mlev555]

What are you doing now? Would you be interested in working for a new social commerce startup?

[nostrademons]

I saw the headline and thought it would be about how Morgan Stanley was propping up the Facebook IPO price.

[tlianza]

Or that Facebook really wanted to have an impressive-looking Slashdot profile.

[mmaunder]

Ditto. There was a concrete floor at $38 today.

[rsuttongee]

Great acquisition for Facebook. People are wondering what kind of monetization strategies Facebook will use to make them worth their post-IPO valuation, and Karma is now one good example.

People spend a LOT of money on gifts.

[dm8]

Looks like FB is on acquisition spree. Instagram, Glancee and now Karma. Just in the space of one month. Are these (Glancee and Karma) people acquisitions?

[lusr]

This feels like the Microsoft strategy: sit on a pile of cash and watch others innovate, then buy the guys that succeed (or clone them if you can't buy them). It's a good formula for success because you don't take the risks of introducing an unwanted product into the market, and it's not a bad deal for the acquired besides.

[adhipg]

Congratulations to Karma but is Facebook on a race with Google for the number of startups acquired this year?

[debacle]

This acquisition smells more like Yahoo than Google.

I guess Facebook is going to make a bit to consolidate as many services as possible into their social network. I wonder how that's going to impact usability.

[ispivey]

I hope they're getting a mandate to build gifting / ecommerce transactions into a revenue stream for Facebook whatever way they can. Bring back Free Gifts / FB Gifts with a vengeance. One-click purchase of products advertised in the sidebar!

And congrats again Ben, Lee, and the whole Karma team. They're going to do great things with the resources of FB.

[dlevine]

Lee is a really nice guy, and has multiple successful companies behind him. Seems like a great move on Facebook's part.

[dpearce]

Big time pick up for Facebook. If they can manage to bring Facebook Credits mainstream then everyone watch out.

[krosaen]

Ben & Lee are a great team, from parlaying the winnings of a business plan competition into a hit app (tap defense), to building a successful company around app marketing using their app to gain traction (tapjoy) and now karma. Can't wait to see what they do with Karma and what comes next!

[eapen]

Zuck seems keen to the Wallstreet fellows on the edge with Facebook's unpredictability.

[stevenj]

How do you guys find out about new products and companies?

I had never heard of Glancee or Karma (among many others) before I read the news that they had both been acquired by Facebook.

[frankdenbow]

Karma had a few Techcrunch articles

[SpiderX]

http://betali.st/

[sparknlaunch12]

Pretty interesting app and can see how Facebook could utilize the product. I wonder if we will see more of this consolidation in the market place as the big players buy up smaller ones.

[adhipg]

But how many such acquisitions actually become 'usable' features in the parent product and how many just end up being talent acquisitions?

I don't imagine it's easy to integrate something into core Facebook than essentially just being a part of the product that uses the API - which can just be done by being an independent entity?

[thesis]

When does facebook have to disclose how much they paid for it?

[twodayslate]

Looks like Facebook is using their new IPO money wisely.

[2pasc]

This is interesting as it shows how Facebook may move away from pure advertising as a revenue stream on the mobile and more towards transactions.

[minikomi]

Nice. I'm reminded of how often Facebook is how I know someone's birthday is coming up..,

[38f0ia]

Now this is a smart buy.

[dennisgorelik]

How do you know that without knowing the price?

[swasheck]

They had to do SOMETHING with that $16B

[InclinedPlane]

So. Facebook is ostensibly a "public" company except it's still more than 50% controlled by one man and now it has 18 billion dollars of cash to buy up potential competitors before they get big. Zuck has to be feeling pretty damned pleased with himself right about now.

[justincormack]

The $18bn is not cash raised for Facebook, it is mostly (can't find if entirely) existing investors selling out. It can use its shares to buy companies though, plus existing cash.

[joshu]

A hiding startup is a potential competitor?

You seem angry.