Yahoo Has Closed The Tomfoolery Acquisition, Will Shut Down Anchor, Team To Work For Bonforte
We now have more details about the deal between Yahoo and Tomfoolery, an enterprise app studio co-founded by ex-Yahoo and ex-AOL alums, which we and others have reported is getting acquired by Yahoo.
Context & Ripple Effects
Yahoo has closed the deal that surfaced yesterday as talks for a reported $16 million: Tomfoolery, an enterprise app studio founded by ex-Yahoo and ex-AOL alums, is in the door with its Anchor product headed for shutdown and the team reporting to Jeff Bonforte. The structure is familiar — this is a talent purchase dressed as an acquisition, echoing the $30 million Summly deal where Yahoo paid primarily for the founder's time.
The pattern is now running both directions at once: while Marissa Mayer buys small teams, Yahoo is also retiring products from earlier deals, having just moved to shut down IntoNow nearly three years after acquiring it. The pickup was broad — Fortune, The Guardian, App Advice and others all carried the closing on the same day.
First-order effects
- Tomfoolery's founders return to Yahoo under Jeff Bonforte, giving his organization ex-Yahoo and ex-AOL enterprise talent; Anchor users get a shutdown notice instead of a roadmap.
Second-order effects
- Yahoo's enterprise ambitions consolidate around hires rather than shipped apps — competitors courting the same mobile-enterprise talent pool now bid against an acquirer paying roughly $16 million per small team.
Third-order effects
- If acquisitions keep resolving into shutdowns and reassignments, Yahoo's M&A reads increasingly as a labor market for engineers, with product lifecycles measured from acquisition date to sunset — the IntoNow trajectory being the template.
The trend: Yahoo under Mayer is systematizing the acqui-hire: small teams bought for their people, products folded shortly after, with prior purchases like IntoNow showing the eventual end state.