Microsoft has acquired yet another startup called Talko, a messaging app for instant business communications founded by former Microsoft employee Ray Ozzie.
The deal was announced on Monday, though terms haven’t been disclosed yet.
Microsoft says that it’ll use Talko’s technology to fuel future innovation in its Skype suite of apps. With the acquisition, Talko’s employees will be joining the Skype team, and Talko will cease to exist. Notably, Ozzie will not be joining Microsoft as a part of the deal.
Talko was launched last year, aimed at providing instant business communication. Though since its launch, the team believes it couldn’t attract a lot of users as Talko saw very low adoption rates. Hence, the startup decided it was better to join hands with Microsoft.
“For all the value and enjoyment it’s delivered, and for all the team’s listening and perseverance, Talko was largely on the path to filling a (passionate) niche,” the company said. “We’re in this to have great impact, so it’s time for a change.”
Meanwhile, Microsoft believes the acquisition will help the company “deliver great new features and capabilities” in Skype as well as Skype for Business. Talko and its services will completely shut down by March 2016, though its current customers will be allowed to export all their past Talko conversations that include photos, texts and voice.
Notably, this isn’t the first time Ozzie has sold a company to the Redmond giant. As back in 2005, Microsoft bought Groove Networks from Oozie, an app that specialized in productivity tools which can be integrated with SharePoint and OneDrive.
He was brought in as one of Microsoft’s chief technical officer during that time, after which he got promoted to Chief Software in no time. In 2010, he left Microsoft to create Talko, though we’re not sure of the road ahead for Ozzie as he won’t re-joining Microsft as a part of the deal.
Microsoft is on a buying spree this calendar year, as this makes it the 20th acquisition by the company in 2015. Moreover, buying Talko also makes it the second acquisition by Microsoft in a span of 4 days. The company’s last acquisition was a Palo Alto startup called Metanautix, which uses SQL queries help organizations sift through massive hordes of data.
