Summly creator Nick D’Aloisio, 17, has app bought for millions by Yahoo!

A London teenager has become one of the world’s youngest internet millionaires after the app he dreamt up in his bedroom to help with his homework was bought by Yahoo! in a multi-million pound deal. Nick D’Aloisio, 17, said he would buy a pair of shoes and a new computer after the deal was confirmed by Yahoo!.
The terms of the purchase have not been disclosed, but it is thought Yahoo! will pay between £20million and £40million for his Summly app.
Although iPhone app Summly was only released on the Apple App Store four months ago, it has already been downloaded one million times.
The free app, which is now no longer available to download, allows iPhone users to break down any internet article into a summarised version of no longer than 350 to 400 words.
The origins of the app lie in a 15-year-old Nick wanting to make it easier for him to read articles online while he revised for mock exams, with several incarnations of the app attracting celebrity investors such as Stephen Fry, Yoko Ono and Ashton Kutcher.
‘In true Summly fashion, I will keep this short and sweet,’ Nick said in a statement on the app’s homepage.
‘When I founded Summly at 15, I would have never imagined being in this position so suddenly,’ he added, going on to thank investors, his family, friends, his school and the app’s users.
Yahoo!’s senior vice president of mobile and emerging products Adam Cahan announced the acquisition on the company’s official blog.
‘Across Yahoo!, we’re focused on creating beautiful experiences that people are excited to use every day – products that inspire and delight,’ he wrote.
‘We can’t wait to work with Nick and the Summly team to do just that.’
Under the terms of the Summly deal, Nick will work for Yahoo! at their Soho offices while studying for three A-levels at King’s College School in the evening.
He lives at home in Wimbledon with his energy financier father and lawyer mother