BitTorrent announced its acquisition of μTorrent on December 7, 2006. The contemporaneous report said the purchase price was not disclosed. BitTorrent described the deal as a way to combine μTorrent’s efficient codebase and established user community with BitTorrent’s expertise in networking protocols.
When did BitTorrent acquire μTorrent?
The acquisition was announced on December 7, 2006. TechCrunch’s coverage of the announcement reported that the financial terms were not disclosed, so there is no confirmed purchase price to cite from that report.
Why did BitTorrent buy μTorrent?
BitTorrent’s stated rationale focused on software and community assets rather than a published financial figure.
- μTorrent’s codebase: BitTorrent said it recognized the merits of μTorrent’s exceptionally well-written implementation.
- μTorrent’s user community: The company also pointed to μTorrent’s robust and established user base.
- Complementary technical strengths: The plan was to pair μTorrent’s implementation and user interface with BitTorrent’s networking-protocol expertise.
Those reasons come from BitTorrent’s own announcement. They are the company’s explanation for the transaction, not an independent measurement of the products’ quality or proof that the acquisition produced a particular commercial result.
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What did BitTorrent say would happen to μTorrent?
The announcement said μTorrent would continue to be developed. It also said the codebase could be reused in other applications, including lightweight software for embedded platforms such as televisions and cell phones.
These were plans stated at the time of the acquisition. The announcement itself does not establish that those embedded-device applications were later released or widely deployed, so the strategy should not be presented as a documented outcome.
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2006 acquisition versus TRON’s 2018 acquisition of BitTorrent
Two different ownership events are often confused:
| Date | Event | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| December 7, 2006 | BitTorrent announced that it was acquiring μTorrent. | This is the transaction covered by the original acquisition report; its price was not disclosed. |
| July 24, 2018 | BitTorrent announced that TRON had officially closed its acquisition of BitTorrent. | This was a later change in ownership of BitTorrent and is separate from BitTorrent’s 2006 purchase of μTorrent. |
The 2018 announcement described more than 100 million active users worldwide, but that was a company-reported figure tied to the 2018 transaction and is not a current user count.
What happened to the brands afterward?
The 2006 announcement established an intention to keep developing μTorrent and to reuse its code, but it did not provide a detailed long-term product history or independently measured results. Current BitTorrent company materials describe BitTorrent and μTorrent as two software brands offering clients for Windows, Mac, and Android. That present-day description confirms the brands’ current positioning; it does not show which products or platforms existed at the moment of the 2006 deal.
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Official company FAQs published in September 2020 described the classic μTorrent client and the torrent network as free to use, alongside Ad-Free and Pro versions. Plan names, prices, supported platforms, and ownership can change, so those historical FAQ details should not be treated as a current pricing guide.
What the acquisition did—and did not—establish
- Established: BitTorrent announced the μTorrent acquisition on December 7, 2006.
- Established: The purchase price was not disclosed in the cited contemporaneous coverage.
- Established: BitTorrent publicly cited μTorrent’s codebase and user community, alongside its own protocol expertise.
- Announced intention: μTorrent would continue development and its code could be considered for embedded applications.
- Not established by the announcement: A later deployment record for those embedded applications, a measured financial return, or an independently verified effect on users or performance.
Safety and legality are separate questions
BitTorrent’s official safety guidance distinguishes the client software from the files exchanged through torrent networks. The company has cautioned that its proprietary clients can be used to download malicious files and that the software does not prevent piracy. Using a client is therefore not the same as establishing that every shared file is legal or safe; both copyright status and file security depend on the particular material and source.
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