Foursquare Merges With Factual, Another Location-Data Provider

Foursquare, the 10-year-old location platform based in New York City, has today announced its plan to merge with Factual. From a report: The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The merged company will keep the Foursquare moniker, and Foursquare CEO David Shim will remain at the helm, with Factual's founder and now-former CEO Gil Elbaz joining Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley as a member of the board and executive team. Shim confirmed to TechCrunch that this merger was in the works before the coronavirus turned the world upside down. A company spokesperson acknowledged that there are redundancies in the two teams -- so there will be layoffs, although they declined to get specific about how many employees or which teams will be affected. Foursquare is not the same company it was when it launched at SXSW in 2009. The location-based social network, which let people check in to locations to share with their friends and earn badges, has evolved over time into an advertising and marketing platform focused on location as a differentiator.

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