Delicious Quietly Acquired by YouTube Founders

Looks like Delicious has been rescued after all.  The social bookmarking service has been acquired by YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, incorporating it into their new web-based company, AVOS.  The deal was kept pretty quiet– details of the acquisition have not been disclosed, and Delicious users discovered the news only by accessing the site.  A closer look at their FAQs and you’ll find a section helping users during the transition to AVOS.  Delicious expects the move to be compete in July, though no exact dates have been revealed.

It could be a good move for both Delicious and AVOS, after Yahoo decided to let go of the social bookmarking service as part of its refocusing efforts.  Yahoo vowed to find a new home for Delicious, rather than deadpooling it all together.  Well, like a freshly adopted puppy, Delicious will have to settle in to its new residence, teaming up with a dynamic duo that’s since left YouTube after it was snatched up by Google for $1.65 billion, nearly five years ago.  The recycling of former acquisitions is part of the web life cycle, and with large conglomerates now shifting to new media business structures, a few casualties have sprinkled their path, Yahoo’s in particular.

The press release link Delicious provided in the FAQs doesn’t seem to work, but there is a blog post, which reads:

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.
Providing a seamless transition for users is incredibly important for both companies. Yahoo! will continue to operate Delicious until approximately July 2011. When the transition period is complete, your information will be moved over to Delicious’ new owner.

Starting today, we will ask you to login to Delicious again and agree to let Yahoo! transfer your bookmarks to the new owner. That way, you’ll enjoy uninterrupted use of the service and will keep your account and all of your bookmarks when we make the transition. For more information on the Delicious transition, please refer to this FAQ.

Thank you for your patience in this time of transition and thank you for using Delicious!