Talk about sibling rivalry.
Google recently acquired Wildfire Interactive Inc., an advertising startup that specializes in working with social networking sites. Wildfire also just so happens to be one of Facebook's leading marketing partners.
Cue the awkward turtle!
Courtesy of Kanemari.Tumblr.com
While this new match may make for some strained business interactions, it might make things even more uncomfortable when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his siblings sit down to their next family dinner.
One of Zuck's younger sisters, Arielle, is a junior product manager for Wildfire and will now presumably be employed by Google, which last year placed itself in direct competition with Facebook when it launched social network Google+. Arielle Zuckerberg has been with the marketing software startup since her graduation from Claremont McKenna College in 2011, per her LinkedIn profile.
According to Business Insider, another of Mark Zuckerberg's sisters, Donna, is married to Wildfire product strategist Harry Schmidt. This means that two members of the Zuckerberg clan will be Google employees.
So far, the family seems to be making light of the situation. On Tuesday, the eldest Zuckerberg, Randi, tweeted warm wishes to her relatives: "Congrats Wildfire! There are officially now more Zuckerberg family members working for Google than Facebook! #awkward ;)." Randi previously worked for Facebook before becoming a producer for Bravo's reality TV show Silicon Valley.
Google reps have not specified how much the company spent on the Wildfire acquisition, though TechCrunch has reported several sources believe "the sale price was around $250 million."
"It’s a platform for brands to manage their pages, apps, tweets, videos, sponsorships, ads, promotions and more, all in one place," Jason Miller, Product Management Director for Google, wrote on the company's blog. "With Wildfire, we’re looking forward to creating new opportunities for our clients to engage with people across all social services."
This acquisition does put Google (and maybe Arielle) in an odd spot: Wildfire will be integrated into Google+, but may continue to be used by companies like Facebook, meaning Google could profit from Wildfire while it's social networking nemesis does, too. "Google would be in the interesting position of writing one of its biggest rivals an indirect check," CNN writes.
So do you think the Zuckerberg siblings will play nice? Will Facebook continue its Wildfire partnership? Sound off in the comments.
[Hat Tip: Business Insider]
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