Google wanted to bring the restaurant review giant Zagat to the digital age when it bought the company seven years ago for $151 million. However, things didn’t really go as planned, and amid reports that Google was thinking about selling Zagat, a new report by the New York Times reveals that the company has indeed sold Zagat to restaurant review site The Infatuation for an undisclosed amount.
The report mentions that The Infatuation is going to publicly announce today that it has bought Zagat from Google and that it’s not going to disclose the amount. Google paid $151 million for Zagat back in 2011.
Google hasn’t really done much to Zagat in the past year or so. The last proper update came back in 2016 when the company introduced a new look for Zagat’s website and launched an app that provided recommendations based on the user’s location and the time of day.
“How often does an iconic brand like Zagat become available?,” said Chris Stang, one of the co-founders of The Infatuation and also its CEO, adding that “When you think about its history and what Zagat means to so many people, it’s a huge opportunity.”
“The Infatuation is an innovative company that will be a terrific home for the Zagat brand,” said Jen Fitzpatrick, a vice president of product and engineering at Google. The company also didn’t disclose how much it sold Zagat for. The Infatuation has said that it’s going to apply its technological chops to further develop Zagat. Whether or not it becomes successful in doing that remains to be seen.
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