By Jack Nicas and Deepa Seetharaman 

Alphabet Inc.'s Google agreed to acquire a unit from Twitter Inc. that runs a tool for developers to make mobile apps, the latest step in Twitter's efforts to streamline its business.

Twitter said it launched the unit, called Fabric, in 2014 and it is now used by more than 580,000 mobile developers. The Fabric team is moving to Google, though Twitter declined to say how many employees that included.

Google said that it would fold Fabric and its employees into Google's Developer Product Group and that they would work with its Firebase team, which also makes a mobile-app tool for developers. Google bought Firebase in October 2014, the day before Twitter announced the launch of Fabric.

Twitter's sale of Fabric follows its recent closure of its Vine video app and a 9% reduction of its workforce.

Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com and Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 18, 2017 14:05 ET (19:05 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Alphabet Charts.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Alphabet Charts.