Home Google Acquires Online Photo Editor Picnik

Google Acquires Online Photo Editor Picnik

Picnik just announced that it has been been acquired by Google. While the details surrounding the acquisition are still somewhat murky, the Picnik team just announced the acquisition on the company’s blog. Picnik currently has 20 employees and, according to its own data, “millions of visitors every month.” The company offers a free service as well as paid accounts and a number of third-party services, including Box.net and Flickr, use Picnik’s API to offer the company’s services to their customers. According to the company’s announcement, the service will remain online and unchanged for the time being. The price of the acquisition has not been disclosed.

What Will Happen to Picnik?

For Google, this acquisition would make a lot of sense. After all, with Picasa Web Albums, Google offers one of the most popular online photo sharing sites and while it offers some basic editing features, it doesn’t offer anything close to Picnik’s feature set. Picasa, too, is one of the few Google services that still relies heavily on a desktop client and as Google continues to push its online services, it’s only natural for Google to want to offer a better online photo editor as well. Indeed, according to Google own announcement, the company will work “hard on integration and new features.”

The Picnik team will move to Google’s Seattle offices and judging from the announcement, there will be no changes in the company’s management and engineering time.

What about Picnik’s Relationship with Flickr?

Picnik has a close partnership with Yahoo’s Flickr, where it is the default photo editor. It will be interesting to see if Flickr plans to make any changes to this agreement in the near future. In today’s announcement, Google notes that it plans to continue to support “all existing Picnik partners so that users will continue to be able to add their photos from other photo sharing sites, make edits in the cloud and then save and share to all relevant networks.”

We contacted Yahoo and Flickr for a statement, but all we got so far was “no comment.”

About ReadWrite’s Editorial Process

The ReadWrite Editorial policy involves closely monitoring the tech industry for major developments, new product launches, AI breakthroughs, video game releases and other newsworthy events. Editors assign relevant stories to staff writers or freelance contributors with expertise in each particular topic area. Before publication, articles go through a rigorous round of editing for accuracy, clarity, and to ensure adherence to ReadWrite's style guidelines.

Get the biggest tech headlines of the day delivered to your inbox

    By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe anytime.

    Tech News

    Explore the latest in tech with our Tech News. We cut through the noise for concise, relevant updates, keeping you informed about the rapidly evolving tech landscape with curated content that separates signal from noise.

    In-Depth Tech Stories

    Explore tech impact in In-Depth Stories. Narrative data journalism offers comprehensive analyses, revealing stories behind data. Understand industry trends for a deeper perspective on tech's intricate relationships with society.

    Expert Reviews

    Empower decisions with Expert Reviews, merging industry expertise and insightful analysis. Delve into tech intricacies, get the best deals, and stay ahead with our trustworthy guide to navigating the ever-changing tech market.