Google acquires Indian co-founded Angstro
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 30 August 2010, 15:17 IST   |    15 Comments
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Google acquires Indian co-founded Angstro
San Francisco: As part of its effort to create a social networking service to counter the aggressive growth of Facebook, Google has acquired Internet company Angstro and hired its Co-Founder Rohit Khare, reports Jessica Guynn from The Los Angeles Times. A Google spokesman has confirmed the acquisition but declined to comment on Khare's role at the company, says the report. Khare, a respected Internet researcher, is one of several new faces at Google charged with helping the Internet search giant compete for the eyeballs and dollars increasingly flowing to social networking. Earlier this month, the Internet giant has recruited Max Levchin, the PayPal Inc. Co-Founder who was chief executive of Internet company Slide, to become a vice president of engineering and take a lead role in its social media efforts. Google bought Slide for $182 million plus $46 million in retention bonuses. Know as "Google Me" inside the company, the social networking service is in stealth mode and Google will not discuss it. The stakes are high for Google. Facebook's threat to Google's dominance on the Web is Topic A in Silicon Valley, debated daily by technology executives and investors. Many consumers now turn not just to Google but to their friends on Facebook to find content, products and services on the Internet. Facebook is increasingly driving more traffic across the Web, according to Augie Ray Forrester Research Analyst. Former Google executives are running the booming advertising business at Facebook, which boasts more than 500 million users. Speculation is growing that Facebook could launch its own advertising network across the Web to compete with Google's advertising network AdSense. "Google had a big role in changing the world 10 years ago. Now the world is changing again and Google looks more like a follower than a leader," added Ray.

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