This image released by NBC shows Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer appearing on NBC News' "Today" show, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 in New York to introduce the website's redesign. Yahoo is renovating the main entry into its website in an effort to get people to visit more frequently and linger for longer periods of time. The long-awaited makeover of Yahoo.com's home page is the most notable change to the website since the Internet company hired Marissa Mayer as its CEO seven months ago. The new look will start to gradually roll out in the U.S early Wednesday. (AP Photo/NBC Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire)
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This image released by NBC shows Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer appearing on NBC News' "Today" show, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 in New York to introduce the website's redesign. Yahoo is renovating the main entry into its website in an effort to get people to visit more frequently and linger for longer periods of time. The long-awaited makeover of Yahoo.com's home page is the most notable change to the website since the Internet company hired Marissa Mayer as its CEO seven months ago. The new look will start to gradually roll out in the U.S early Wednesday. (AP Photo/NBC Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire)
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This image released by NBC shows host Savannah Guthrie, left, with Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer on NBC News' "Today" show, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 in New York as Mayer introduces the website's redesign. Yahoo is renovating the main entry into its website in an effort to get people to visit more frequently and linger for longer periods of time. The long-awaited makeover of Yahoo.com's home page is the most notable change to the website since the Internet company hired Marissa Mayer as its CEO seven months ago. The new look will start to gradually roll out in the U.S early Wednesday. (AP Photo/NBC Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire)
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This image released by NBC shows Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer on NBC News' "Today" show, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 in New York to introduce the website's redesign. Yahoo is renovating the main entry into its website in an effort to get people to visit more frequently and linger for longer periods of time. The long-awaited makeover of Yahoo.com's home page is the most notable change to the website since the Internet company hired Marissa Mayer as its CEO seven months ago. The new look will start to gradually roll out in the U.S early Wednesday. (AP Photo/NBC Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire)
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FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, file photo, Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, listens during the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland. Yahoo showed more signs of progress during the fourth quarter of 2012m, as the Internet company took advantage of higher ad prices and rising earnings from its international investments to deliver numbers that exceeded analyst forecasts. The results announced Monday, Jan 28, 2013, covered Yahoo's first full quarter under Mayer. (AP Photo/Keystone, Laurent Gillieron)
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Matthew Marcus works at his desk in the basement of Kansas City Startup Village in Kansas City, Kan., Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. Marcus started the Village which houses several startup companies and takes advantage of the high speed internet. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
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Synthia Payne stands in her workspace at The Home for Hackers in Kansas City, Kan., Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. “Home for Hackers” was among the first wave of houses to be wired and is in a midtown area _ within a block of the Google Fiber offices _ that's become ground zero for Kansas City startups. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
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This Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, photo, shows a sign in front of Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012. Yahoo has ushered in Marissa Mayer as its new CEO with a third-quarter earnings report that topped analyst estimates. The results announced Monday Oct. 22, 2012, show Yahoo's net revenue barely grew at a time when advertisers are spending more money marketing their products and services online. Nevertheless, the numbers were slightly better than analysts projected. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Yahoo brings back 5 ex-employees in latest deal
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo has bought Silicon Valley startup Jybe so it can bring back five of its former engineers to help the Internet company build better mobile applications.
The deal announced Wednesday marks Yahoo's fourth acquisition of a small startup during the past five months. In each instance, Yahoo been more interested in obtaining the startups' brainpower than the services that they provided.
As with its other recent acquisitions, Yahoo Inc. didn't disclose the purchase price.
Jybe's mobile service that gathered people's recommendations about food and entertainment is closing down so its five employees can focus on other projects at Yahoo Inc. All five Jybe workers were formerly employed at Yahoo before the company hired former Google Inc. executive Marissa Mayer as its CEO eight months ago.
The recent acquisitions are part of Mayer's effort to bring in more expertise in designing mobile applications to give Yahoo a better chance of connecting with the steadily growing audience that are relying on smartphones and tablet computers to reach online services instead of personal computers.
The group of Jybe employees returning to Yahoo includes Arnab Bhattacharjee, who was a vice president of search at the company before leaving nearly two years ago while Carol Bartz was CEO. Bartz had negotiated a deal that turned the responsibility for providing most of Yahoo's search results to Microsoft Corp. That move triggered a wave of defections on Yahoo's own internal search team.
After focusing on nothing but small acquisitions under Mayer's command, Yahoo may be working on something bigger. Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo is in preliminary discussion to buy a controlling stake in online video site Dailymotion from France Telecom SA. The report cited anonymous people familiar with the talks.
Yahoo declined to comment on The Journal's report.
The Journal indicated Yahoo is considering buying a 75 percent stake in Dailymotion for about $225 million.
Yahoo's stock dipped 6 cents to $22.11 in early afternoon trading.
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