Founders of Breaker to join Twitter

SAN FRANCISCO: Breaker, a popular podcast app, said on Monday that it would be acquired by social media company Twitter Inc and shut down its app and website next week.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. “I’m joining Twitter to help build @TwitterSpaces,” Breaker co-founder Leah Culver said in a tweet. “While I’ll very much miss @breaker, I’m so excited to help create the future of audio conversations.”

Another Breaker co-founder Erik Berlin announced the acquisition in a blog post, saying he and Culver would help create new experiences for users at Twitter.

“Here at Breaker, we’re truly passionate about audio communications and we’re inspired by the ways Twitter is facilitating public conversations for people around the world,” Berlin said.

Twitter engineering team leader Michael Montano confirmed the union, tweeting that Culver, Berlin and Breaker designer Emma Lundin were joining the company.

“I’m excited to work with the Breaker team,” Montano tweeted from his verified account.

Breaker apps for smartphones powered by Apple or Google-backed Android software let users find and listen to podcasts.

“When we started Breaker, podcast apps were productivity apps, similar to feed readers and to-do lists,”Berlin said.

“Breaker added a social community element with features such as liking and commenting on episodes.”

Breaker will shut down its platform on January 15, allowing time for users to move podcasts and subscriptions to new forums for listening.

Twitter recently began letting a “very small” group of users create Spaces, which it described as online venues “built around the voices of the people using Twitter.”

As many as 10 people can be invited to speak in a Twitter Space, and there is no limit on the number of people who can just listen, according to a blog post about the project.

“This is your space to share thoughts, send emojis, and more,” Twitter said in the post. “We will expand the list of people who can create Spaces over time.”