Despite the presence of some big players in the browser market, Opera has kept its head down and continued to compete in this market. Its desktop and mobile browsers come with some very interesting features and the mobile browsers are particularly liked for their data compression abilities. The company has been looking to unload its browser business for some time and after a previous deal fell through the cracks, it has now reached an agreement with a group of Chinese buyers to sell the mobile and desktop browser business for $600 million.
This deal does not include Opera’s advertising business. The company has decided to keep the business to itself so as to avoid a long regulatory delay in the approval of this sale.
One of the leading investors in this group of Chinese buyers is Kunlun Tech Co., a company based in Beijing that runs the 1Mobile Android app market and the Brothersoft desktop app store. Qihoo 360 has been named as one of the members of this group.
Along with its mobile and desktop browsers, Opera is also going to sell the group its privacy and performance technology, several licenses that it owns as well as its stake in the Chinese company nHorizon, which also develops a web browser.