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BitTorrent Acquires BT Client uTorrent

By Rafat Ali - Thu 07 Dec 2006 02:52 PM PST

BitTorrent, rich from a major round of funding, has bought a BitTorrent lightweight client uTorrent. Probably a small deal.
The Wired post speculates: The merger means that many of BitTorrent’s patented delivery innovations will be rolled into the µTorrent client. While that’s nice for users, the real reason for the deal may be that BitTorrent, which just inked some deals with Hollywood, needs a lightweight codebase for potential mobile, TV and other, non-PC markets.
Update: The official word is out: “The objective is to combine BitTorrent’s expertise in networking protocols with uTorrent’s high-performance design and compelling user interface (UI).”

Posted in: Broadband, VC+M&A

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2 Responses:

From Michael Thu 07 Dec 2006 03:15 PM

I hope this doesn’t affect uTorrent’s memory usage. That’s one of the reasons it has always been such an attractive client for me. I’d hate to see them bulk it up.

From Adam Thu 07 Dec 2006 05:15 PM

Uh oh. uTorrent is easily the lightest and best client available (assuming you don’t need all the bells and whistles). I hope they don’t screw it up.