Zite CEO Mark Johnson had this to say about the acquisition: This makes a lot of sense, because an application like Zite creates another distribution mechanism for CNN to engage users while on a mobile platform. However, a recent tweet from Mark Johnson contradicted this notion stating that, This is the first exit for a personalized news mobile app, which makes it significant. The space is extremely competitive, rivaling the personalized startpage wars of the web 2.0 area. Companies like Flipboard, FLUD, Aol’s Editions, News360 and Yahoo’s Livestand among others are all competing for the daily news consumption routine, which is often a first point of contact for a user each day. The CNN press release shared that Zite would remain a standalone unit with its executive team continuing to run Zite’s operations from San Francisco.
