It is a sad day. It is raining and cold here in New York and probably inside the Vine offices too. Today, Oct. 27, Twitter announced that they were killing one of their prized acquisitions, Vine, in the next few months.
The move was announced by Vine in a medium post.
The company will discontinue its mobile app in the next few months, which will in effect kill the app. Users won't be able to post any new content to the video looping app. This is going to be distressing and damaging to those who have built followings and been able to monetize their videos through Vine.
Vine won't shut down the app entirely. Users will still be able to view old vines and download them so they aren't lost in case the company gets shut down for good.
Vine has struggled recently to maintain its relevance in pop culture against competition like Instagram and Snapchat. It still has a place online, but Twitter apparently decided it was not worth the investment to keep it going.
It is a puzzling move for Twitter, which has been struggling lately to achieve profitability. It did achieve higher than expected Q3 financial performance, though it is expected to shed 9 percent of its workforce. Its net loss was up to $103 million in Q3, an improvement from a net loss $132 million a year ago.
Twitter bought Vine for a rumored $970 million in October 2012 and four years later it is shuttering the service. It is unclear how many employees will be shown the door or if they will be integrated into other parts of the business. However given other cuts in the overall business, it doesn't seem likely many of them would stay.
RIP Vine - you were a savage and hilarious place. We will miss you.
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