New York-based 10-year-old location platform Foursquare and its rival Factual announced that they were merged with a stock deal. Other details of the deal were not disclosed. But after the merger, Foursquare CEO David Shim will remain the company’s CEO. Gil Elbaz, founder and now former CEO of Factual, will accompany Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley on the board and will be on Foursquare’s executive team. David Shim explained that the idea of merger existed before the corona virus outbreak. The company spokesman admitted that there were layoffs in both teams. So there will be layoffs for both companies, if not specific about which teams will be affected. Let us remind you that Foursquare did not operate as it was released in 2009. The location-based social network, which allowed users to check in wherever they went to share with friends and earn badges at that time, focused on the advertising and marketing platform over time. Let us also mention that Foursquare purchased Placed, another location data and software supplier, from Snap a year ago. In 2014, Foursquare divided its main application into two separate applications, the Foursquare City Guide and Swarm. Swarm, like Foursquare’s early days, allows users to check in at locations and earn stickers. On the other hand, Foursquare City Guide uses the past check-in data in Swarm to advise users for restaurants and other locations in their area and guide people. Let us remind you that Foursquare’s revenue last year was more than $ 100 million. Foursquare allows advertisers to target different audience groups. However, David Shim states that Factual is much more successful in location and that they will keep Factual’s data in the foreground after the merger.
