Boston, MA 04/28/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), the dominant social network in the world, acquired the startup company behind the motion and fitness tracking app, Moves. The company develops activity log apps for Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Android mobile OS and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iOS. Moves will be part of Facebook’s mobile growth but will continue operate on its own.
The financial details about the latest acquisition were not immediately made public. But Moves could play an important part in supporting diversification in Facebook besides putting the social network giant ahead of rivals.
Moves is a Finnish startup that helps users to track the places they visited on a daily basis and how they got those places. In other words, the app keeps users’ daily fitness and exercise routines and delivers the logs on mobile gadgets. Therefore, the acquisition of Moves resonates well with the strategy of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) to expand and dominate mobile social networking.
Acquisition spree
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has been in the acquisition spree in recent times whereby the company is keen on buying apps that can leverage is mobile strategy. Allowing target startups to operate as standalone allows the company to ensure that it fosters creativity in the startups it acquires. Moreover, allowing standalone operations for the acquired companies is one way that Facebook expects to foster good privacy practices especially in the wake of online privacy concerns.
The first quarter saw Facebook spending about $21 billion in various acquisitions including the purchase mobile text messaging startup WhatsAppp and the virtual reality firm Oculus VR.
First quarter results
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) reported first quarter results that demolished Wall Street expectations. The strong results were supported by increasing mobile activity. The company witnessed significant improvement in its mobile activities where mobile ad revenue increased beyond expectations. The company reported earnings per share of $0.34, suggesting a triple jump from earnings in the same period a year ago. Revenue was up 72 percent to $2.5 billion. Wall Street expected earnings per share of $0.24 on $2.4 billion revenue for the quarter.
