Flipboard Buys Rival News Reader Zite With A Plan To Shut It Down

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Flipboard has today confirmed its acquisition of rival news reader Zite from CNN. The company plans to integrate Zite’s technology into its existing service, while Zite as we know it will be killed off.

“We’re going to integrate the technology into Flipboard in the coming months,” Flipboard CEO Mike McCue announced during a press call with CNET on Wednesday. “We do not plan to continue to evolve Zite, we think we should focus on a single product.”

Zite users who haven’t yet created a Flipboard account will be able to use their existing Zite login to do so. Flipboard is already adding a quarter of a million users every day, McCue said, but the company is hoping that its acquisition of Zite will accelerate its growth even further.

The majority of the Zite team, except for CEO Mark Johnson, will join Flipboard, CNET reports. Neither company would confirm any of the financial details, but it’s though part of the deal will involve a new advertising partnership between Flipboard and CNN.