After news leaked out that Yahoo! was shutting down Delicious (then announcing plans on selling the social bookmarking service), it looks like the former internet titan has found a new lease on life under new leadership.
Today, we’re pleased to announce that Delicious has been acquired by the founders of YouTube, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. As creators of the largest online video platform, they have firsthand experience enabling millions of users to share their experiences with the world. They are committed to running and improving Delicious going forward. (Official Delicious Blog)
While it’s not surprising that Yahoo! found a buyer (as there were reportedly several companies interested in purchasing Delicious), the fact that the social bookmarking service is under Hurley and Chen’s leadership via AVOS is great news for Delicious fans.
Users have until July of 2011 to grant Yahoo! permission to transition their accounts upon AVOS’s servers, or lose access to all of their social bookmarks and contents forever.
Unfortunately time is not on Delicious side, as they face increased competition from rivals big and small (like Evernote and Instapaper, respectively) who have the resources to compete Delicious (at least in the latter’s current state).
The YouTube duo has yet to announce future plans for the social bookmarking service, although quickly creating a business plan for the site could help Delicious avoid a second digital death in the future.
