Facebook has opened up its wallet again to acquire group messaging company Beluga.
Details of how much money swapped hands has been kept as a well guarded secret but reports suggest the smaller firm was in the process of raising capital, meaning the social networking giant would have had to pay a more significant sum.
Also, with a team made up of former Google employees, the rivalry may have added a few extra dollars to the price tag.
What has been confirmed though is Beluga a Silicon Valley start-up providing a web and mobile tool for planning nights out, swapping photos and sharing status updates will continuing operating as it has been for now but begin to work with Facebook's groups and messaging team.
"Since launching Beluga, we've appreciated all the enthusiasm and positive feedback from our users," said the three founders of the firm. "We're excited to continue to build our vision for mobile group messaging as part of the Facebook team."
A statement from Facebook claimed the social network was "psyched" to be welcoming the ex-Google employees into their team and said Beluga's "simple and elegant mobile apps blew us away as a solution to help groups of friends stay in touch on the move."
More details on how the technology will be used will be revealed "in the coming weeks."
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