Yahoo acquires fantasy sports startup Bignoggins

The Internet giant has added fantasy sports startup Bignoggins to its roster with the aim of strengthening the Fantasy product.

Nishtha Kanal|Jul 02, 2013, 10:57:07 IST

Yahoo is still shopping! As part of its recent spree, the Internet giant has picked up fantasy sports startup Bignoggins, the company announced on Monday. The move has been made in order to strengthen Yahoo’s Fantasy Sports product.

Bignoggins was run by founder Jerry Shen alone, who announced in a blog post that he was delighted to be picked up by Yahoo. “I’m excited to join a team of all-stars to take fantasy sports to the next level. I’ve been playing Yahoo! Fantasy since high school, and have wanted to work here since college, so this is really a dream come true for me,” he wrote.

Part of the Yahoo! family!

Shen had been responsible for the iOS and Android apps like Fantasy Monster and Draft Monster that have now been removed from the App Store and Google Play, following the announcement of the acquisition. For those not in the know, Yahoo Fantasy has been online since 1999 and allows users to play fantasy sports by creating teams and pitting them against each other.

It’s hardly surprising that CEO Marissa Mayer would want to acquire a fantasy sports startup now. Mayer has been making sure no feature of Yahoo goes undeveloped under her watch and has made some big decisions like acquiring Tumblr (amongst other startups) and revitalising Yahoo Mail.

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The sum and the conditions of the deal with Shen and Bignoggins have not been disclosed but Shen has announced that the technology driving his apps will be integrated in Yahoo’s offerings. He has assured that features like mock and live drafts using mobile devices will become a part of Yahoo’s services now. And this won’t be a one-man-show anymore since Shen has announced that he will be hiring more people to join the Fantasy team.

By Nishtha Kanal

Intrigued by all things social, Nishtha will invariably tweet about you. When not tweeting or writing about the next viral video, you will hear her proclaiming her love to Metallica, James Hetfield, Opeth, Akerfeldt and all bands that go 'growl'. She also obsesses about ACP Pradyuman and South Park and you will always find her moving around with a book. Her focus is on all the happening stuff in the tech domain, and she won't hesitate to take a shot at some of the oddball devices that make their way to our labs.