Time Warner’s CNN Buys IPad App Zite for Customizing News

Time Warner Inc. (TWX)’s CNN cable news channel acquired Zite, an application for Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPad that offers users a personalized news stream.

Zite, available free from Apple’s iTunes and App Store, will remain a stand-alone business, Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide, said today in a statement. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

CNN is buying Zite as more viewers get their news on tablet computers and smartphones. The network began providing cable subscribers a live stream of its 24-hour news channel online and through an app for Apple’s iPad and iPhone, New York-based Time Warner said last month.

Time Warner rose 28 cents to $31.30 at 3:04 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock had slipped 3.6 percent this year before today.

Zite, now based in Vancouver and relocating to San Francisco, finds content from sources on the Web that fit the interests of a particular user’s profile, CNN said in its statement. The app adapts to its users’ preferences, providing more specific results over time, the company said.

Mark Johnson, Zite’s chief executive officer, will continue to run the app’s day-to-day operations and will report to KC Estenson, general manager of CNN Digital. Zite founder Ali Davar will remain with the company as executive director.

The deal was reported last week as likely by the Canadian site Techvibes.com, which said CNN was paying $20 million to $25 million for Zite.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net

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CNN Buys IPad App for Customizing News

Chris Rank/Bloomberg

CNN is buying Zite as more viewers get their news on tablet computers and smartphones.

CNN is buying Zite as more viewers get their news on tablet computers and smartphones. Photographer: Chris Rank/Bloomberg