Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Alphabet (GOOGL) Buys Twitter's Platform for Developers

Read MoreHide Full Article

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) owned Google has decided to acquire Twitter Inc’s mobile app developer platform Fabric. Google however did not say how much it will pay for Fabric.

Over the last one year, the stock has outperformed the Zacks Internet Services industry. It has gained 15.37% compared to the industry’s gain of 15.36%.

Fabric that includes popular tools like Crashlytics crash reporting system, Fastlane development automation system, Answers mobile app analytics and Digits SMS login system will be absorbed into Google’s Developer Products division and form a part of its Firebase (the company’s cloud-based mobile software tool) business.

Twitter’s vice president of product management and Fabric head Jeff Seibet announced in a tweet that Rich Paret, Fabric's vice president of engineering & GM will helm Fabric after the transition. Google will retain the entire Fabric team.

Since its inception in 2014, Fabric’s tools have been pretty popular and Twitter claims that the platform has served more than 580,000 developers, backing apps on nearly 2.5 million mobile devices.

How is Alphabet Poised to Benefit?

We believe that the acquisition will help Google build Firebase into a wider developer platform so that it could be pitted against similar offerings from Facebook .

Fabric can also help Google to take developers away from Apple (AAPL - Free Report) . Fabric is popular with developers of Apple’s iOS and Google is now in a position to make them develop apps for its Android software and mobile app. 

Additionally, Google will be getting Fabric’s mobile developers who have the much needed talent for cloud computing service.

Alphabet Inc. Revenue (TTM)

Twitter Continues to Offload

Twitter has been trying to get into a better financial shape after its failed attempts to sell itself to potential acquirers including the likes of Google, Salesforce and Disney. Recently, the company phased out its six-second video service Vine and replaced it with Vine Camera that no longer hosts videos. It has also trimmed down 9% of its workforce.

We believe that the latest move from Twitter is an effort to shed its non-core assets and revitalize the slow growing social media site.

To Conclude

Alphabet has been making a large number of acquisitions. The past year has seen the company snapping up many smaller players. The targets are typically much smaller than Alphabet, with specific technologies that could enhance the search experience and/or augment its platform convergence plans.

At present, Alphabet is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Zacks’ Best Private Investment Ideas

In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time?

Our experts cover all kinds of trades… from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access. Click here for Zacks' private trades >>


Unique Zacks Analysis of Your Chosen Ticker


Pick one free report - opportunity may be withdrawn at any time


Apple Inc. (AAPL) - $25 value - yours FREE >>

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) - $25 value - yours FREE >>

Published in