Almost every update Facebook has made recently has been focused on integrating itself more seamlessly into users’ online lives. Now, a new rumor has surfaced: according to an anonymous source at Pocket-lint, Facebook is looking to buy Opera Software, which operates both a web and mobile browser. If Facebook did acquire Opera, it could build in automatic notifications, sharing, and other features, the source says. A separate source at Opera has also told The Next Web that the company is in the midst of a hiring freeze and is currently talking to potential buyers, though they made no mention of Facebook.
Facebook wants to buy Opera to create own browser, source tells Pocket-lint
An anonymous source has said that Facebook is looking to buy Opera Software in order to
An anonymous source has said that Facebook is looking to buy Opera Software in order to
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
Both Facebook and Opera have declined comment, and Opera is a much more established company than those that Facebook has bought so far. That makes this deal far from a given, even if it would fit with Facebook’s steady expansion of its platform. It also, of course, fits with the long-rumored Facebook-centric phone, where Opera Mini could supplant Chrome or the default Android browser, helping Facebook to shore up its popular but relatively unprofitable mobile business.
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