Mozilla on Monday acquired popular read-it-later service and app Pocket, which allows iOS, Android, and web users to save webpages for later viewing. The service claims to have over 10 million active users, with more than 3 billion pieces of content saved to date.
Mozilla is growing, experimenting more, and doubling down on our mission to keep the internet healthy, as a global public resource that’s open and accessible to all. As our first strategic acquisition, Pocket contributes to our strategy by growing our mobile presence and providing people everywhere with powerful tools to discover and access high quality web content, on their terms, independent of platform or content silo.
Pocket will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mozilla, becoming a part of the Mozilla open source project.
Pocket will join Mozilla’s product portfolio as a new product line alongside the Firefox web browsers with a focus on promoting the discovery and accessibility of high quality web content. (Here’s a link to their blog post on the acquisition). Pocket’s core team and technology will also accelerate Mozilla’s broader Context Graph initiative.
Mozilla CEO Chris Beard:
“We believe that the discovery and accessibility of high quality web content is key to keeping the internet healthy by fighting against the rising tide of centralization and walled gardens. Pocket provides people with the tools they need to engage with and share content on their own terms, independent of hardware platform or content silo, for a safer, more empowered and independent online experience.”
The read-it-later service has been integrated into Mozilla’s Firefox browser since 2015. The acquisition will allow both teams to work to build closer integration.
“We’ve really enjoyed partnering with Mozilla over the past year. We look forward to working more closely together to support the ongoing growth of Pocket and to create great new products that people love in support of our shared mission.” – Nate Weiner, Pocket CEO
Instapaper, one of Pocket’s biggest rivals, was acquired by Pinterest in August 2016.
