Google shuts down Slide one year after acquisition

Google is shutting down Slide, the social app maker it bought for $200m last year, after its products failed to catch on.


The move will see all but one of Slide’s apps, including Superpoke Pets, Pool Party, Video Inbox and Photovine, shut down over the next few months.
The lone exception is Prizes.org, which is still being developed by the Slide team in China for Google.
Slide founder and Google VP Max Levchin will also be leaving.
In a statement, Google said: “Max has decided to leave Slide and Google to pursue other opportunities, and we wish him the best. Most of the team from Slide will remain at Google to work on other opportunities.”
Since its acquisition, Slide has been operating as an independent unit in its San Francisco office while Levchin was named a Google VP of engineering on par with Vic Gundrota, who has since gone on to help mobilize Google+ with Brad Horowitz.
However, Slide’s tools failed to catch on, and Google has seen alternative social success in the social network Google+, rather than through apps.
“We created products with the goal of providing a fun way for people to connect, communicate and share,” Slide explained in a blog post. “While we are incredibly grateful to our users and for all of the wonderful feedback over the years, many of these products are no longer as active or haven’t caught on as we originally hoped.”
Founded in 2005, Slide raised $78 million in venture financing and was, at one point, valued at $500 million.
The other members of the Slide team will remain at Google, where some are expected to be shifted over to YouTube, according to reports.