Facebook Buys Karma: Social Network Purchases Another Startup On The Same Day As Its Public Debut (UPDATE)

Facebook's Newest Addition: Karma

Shortly after markets closed on Facebook's first day as a publicly traded company, the social network bought another startup.

Social gifting service Karma announced the deal in a blog post written by co-founders Lee Linden & Ben Lewis on Friday evening.

Unlike another of Facebook's recent purchases, social discovery app Glancee, Karma's mobile app won't be shuttered as a result of its acquisition by Facebook.

"The service that Karma provides will continue to operate in full force," wrote Lee and Ben. "By combining the incredible passion of our community with Facebook's platform we can delight users in new and meaningful ways. As we say ... only good things will follow."

Available on both iPhone and Android, the Karma app lets users send messages to friends on special occasions and then recommends personalized gifts to the recipient by pulling their data from Facebook. The recipient can customize their gift, swap it for another item or donate it to a charity. The app will also ship the gift to the recipient.

With Karma under its belt, Facebook makes yet another move to up its strength in the mobile space, which the social networking giant has admitted is a weak spot in its business.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We've been really impressed with the Karma team and all they accomplished in such a short time," a Facebook spokeswoman wrote in a statement emailed to The Huffington Post. "This acquisition combines Karma’s passion and innovative mobile app with Facebook’s platform to help people connect and share in new and meaningful ways."

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