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Apple didn’t buy Color, it bought 20 engineers for a few million

It turns out yesterday’s report about Apple buying Color for “high double digit millions” was mostly off base. At least that is according to AllThingsD:

What’s really happening is that Color’s engineering team — about 20 people, comprising almost the entire company — is being “acqhired” by Apple at what’s being called a “nominal” price of something like $2 to $5 million, according to multiple sources familiar with both sides of the situation. To repeat, there are no “double-digit” millions involved, according to many people familiar with the deal.

Apple is not buying Color’s technology, intellectual property, domain names or liabilities. Those are being left with the company, which still has considerable cash in the bank — something like $25 million — and is going to be wound down.

The engineers could help with Apple’s photo and video-sharing capabilities across devices, or maybe Apple is just getting a HR jump on the competition in the red hot Silicon Valley talent marketplace.

Color is said to be winding down, with the $25 million it has left in the bank going to investors.

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