Automattic Acquires Pocket Casts
The parent company of WordPress.com and Tumblr, Automattic, is booming. Last month it was announced that Automattic has acquired the diary app Day One, now the acquisition of Pocket Casts follows. In the United States alone, this app has over 80 million weekly listeners. In a blog post, Automattic announces that they are the new owner of the app.
Automattic plans to make “deep integrations” to be realized for WordPress and Pocket Casts. What that will look like is unknown, nor is the price Automattic will pay for the acquisition. All we know is that Automattic wants to make it easier to publish and listen to podcasts. There will probably be no major changes in the near term.
Pocket Casts has been available in the App Store for years. It is one of the most popular podcast apps. For example, we also mention the app in our guide to the best podcast apps for your iPhone and iPad. The app has support for CarPlay and AirPlay, so you can listen to podcasts on almost all your smart devices, including the car. Everything is bundled in a beautiful design.
The management of Pocket Casts remains in the hands of founders Russell Ivanovic and Philip Simpson. They have now joined Automattic. The app is still free to download from the App Store with an optional subscription of €0.99 per month. For the time being, no plans have been announced about a change in this.
We usually hear little from Automattic in the field of acquisitions. Whether it is a coincidence that two acquisitions follow in quick succession, or whether it is a new strategy, is still a matter of conjecture. In any case, Automattic has not been sitting still the last few days.