Flipboard Buys Zite, CNN's Flipboard

In 2011, CNN acquired Zite, which was then one of many news reader apps built for the iPad. Since then, many of those apps have gone away, and now Zite is going away as well: Flipboard, the most popular of the news readers, is buying the company from CNN.

CNN reports that the deal is “valued at $60 million,” but the two companies wouldn’t discuss financials during a press call. CNN paid around $20 million for Zite three years ago. I would be very surprised if Flipboard, which has raised $160 million to date, spent $60 million in cash for Zite. (Update: You can arch your other eyebrow at that $60 million figure. Here’s a quote, passed along via Flipboard PR, attributed to CNN PR: “While we’re not sharing the terms of the deal, the reported valuation is inaccurate.”)

Zite itself will shut down, but CNN says most of its 20 employees will go to work for Flipboard (Zite CEO Mark Johnson will not be joining them.) Flipboard will produce custom “magazines” for CNN, and the two companies will work to sell advertising together.

At one point many people were convinced that Flipboard-style apps, which let readers assemble their own publications by culling links and articles from around the Web, would thrive on the iPad and other tablets. But many efforts, including ones from AOL, Yahoo and Google, have fizzled.

Investors are still interested in Flipboard itself, though. Last year, the company raised funding that valued it at $800 million.

And the notion of recombining traditional publications into a choose-your-own digital version still holds theoretical appeal to other folks. Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has been proposing something along those lines to publishers this year.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via