Google buys social marketing start-up Wildfire

Wildfire, which was launched four years ago by co-founders Victoria Ransom and Alain Chuard, provides software that links to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and other social networks, allowing customers to manage their online brand and presence. Wildfire's clients include Sony and Amazon.

It has been reported that Google paid about $250m for the business, according to a source familiar with the deal.

The Wildfire co-founders said in a blog post: “It makes us so happy to know that joining with Google will make it easier for us to realize our vision of changing the way the world markets and enable us to live up to our commitment to make Wildfire an incredible place for our team and our customers.

“We believe that over time the combination of Wildfire and Google can lead to a better platform for managing all digital media marketing.”

Wildfire has around 400 employees and 16,000 customers including 30 of the top 50 brands.