Flickr bought by SmugMug as Yahoo breakup begins
One of the first and best-known photo-sharing services, Flickr, has been bought by the independent image-hosting firm SmugMug, as Verizon begins the breakup of Yahoo.
The deal, terms of which have not been disclosed, sees Flickr – with its tens of billions of photos and 75 million users – become part of a similar family-run service in SmugMug.
The Silicon Valley firm, founded by a father and son team in 2002 without the help of venture capital or outside investment, says it intends for Flickr to “continue to operate separately, just as it has been”. SmugMug said no changes would be made to Flickr’s current plans or rates: “Flickr’s free accounts are foundational to its community of influential and engaged photographers.”
Yahoo failed to invest in Flickr, leading it to miss the boat on smartphone photography and the rise of Facebook and Instagram. After a series of cost savings and layoffs at the firm, Flickr was given a brief reprieve in 2012 when Marissa Mayer took the helm of Yahoo, giving users 1TB of storage for free and an overhaul of its user interface. But by then too much ground had been lost to Facebook businesses.
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