Tech acquisitions seem to be the hottest thing this year. Just yesterday Yahoo announced that it will be acquiring an online Israel-based start-up streaming company called RayV. This will supposedly help Marissa Mayer’s company to asserts itself as the number one mobile-device platform. This new streaming service will help them share high-quality video to computers and mobile devices. Although Yahoo has yet to disclose information about the financial agreement, it appears that RayV will soon become part of the company’s research and development team of Tel Aviv.
“The (RayV) team lives and breathes video, and have become industry pioneers,” Yahoo on a Tumblr post
The end game for Yahoo is to boost the development of videos and underlying infrastructure for mobile devices, and securing a number one position as the world’s leading online mobile experience. According to Yahoo’s Cloud Platforms and services VP, Narayan, the RayV software is a perfect match for Yahoo’s future goals. In a recent statement, Yahoo says that they focus on building a video offering which is described by quality content, can be streamed on-demand and works on all platforms.
The founders of RayV team, Omer Luzzatti and Ofer ShemTov want exactly the same thing. With the excellent on-screen quality that RayV provides, Yahoo can hope to contend with the likes of Netflix in the foreseeable future.
No matter how big the investment was for Yahoo!, it is definitely worth it. The company knows that online video has gone from being a novelty to a daily habit for nearly all internet users. People all over the globe watch TV series, online shows, game streams and many more. The news that Yahoo is purchasing RayV came at the same time with another interesting announcement. The company unveiled, on the same day, a line-up of free streaming concerts from singers such as The Dave Matthwes Band, Usher, and Michael Franti.
“Together with Live Nation, we are excited to bring millions of fans together to share these moments through the new Yahoo Live experience.”
At the moment Yahoo’s online TV line-up includes Comedy Central, BuzzFeed and Saturday Night Live (SNL). It is also planning on re-airing the NBC-cancelled show Community starting this year.
The acquisition of RayV is not the only one for the Yahoo! team. Marissa Mayer has also purchased the URL shortener company called Bread, the photo-sharing company “LookFlow”, Ptch the Dreamworks Animation start-up, Evntlive, Skyphrase, Toomfoolery and Aviate. These are only a few examples of companies purchased. Since Mayer became CEO Yahoo purchased a total of 40 brands (since May 2013).
All of these purchases and new projects hint to Yahoo’s desire to drop the search engine function in favor of becoming a venue for premier digital content and services (aimed especially to tablet computers and smart-phones).
