KITCHENER - Less than two weeks before it's scheduled to be shut down, the popular Kik messenger service may have found a new owner.

In a tweet sent just after 11:30 a.m. Monday, Kik Interactive chief executive Ted Livingston said they had signed a letter of intent with an unnamed company that is interested in buying and growing the messenger service.

"Not a done deal yet, but could be a great win win. More soon," he said.

Kik was expected to shut down on Oct. 19 after the company announced last month it was shuttering the messenger service and reducing its workforce from about 150 to an "elite" 19 in order to focus on their cryptocurrency, Kin, and the ongoing fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In an email to The Record, Kik spokesperson Tanner Philp said the company couldn't share any further details since the deal hasn't closed, "however, we are moving fast on this and should be in a position to share more soon."

Just over a week ago, The Record reported Kik had signed another letter of intent to transfer the "majority" of Kik's 75 staff in Waterloo Region and their office space inside Catalyst137 to an unnamed Silicon Valley tech firm.

Philp confirmed that the company interested in buying the messaging app is not the same one interested in hiring the local employees. This new company has a "plan to take over the service, continue to run it as a standalone service, and invest in exciting growth plans," he said.

Kik had an estimated 300 million registered users as recently as 2017 and a $1-billion valuation in 2015 following a $50-million investment from China's Tencent Holdings Ltd.

But the company never found a way to reliably monetize its service, and in 2017 Kik began selling its cryptocurrency after years of development and experimentation.

A cryptocurrency is a digital asset similar to PayPal or an online debit card that allows users to purchase or exchange goods online, except it is not issued by a central government or bank.

The company sold one trillion Kin tokens that first year, raising about $49 million in a presale and another $50 million in a public sale.

That sale drew the attention of the SEC, which alleges the sale violated U.S. securities laws and came at a time when the tech company was losing money on its messenger service. The agency sued the local tech firm, and is seeking an undisclosed penalty.

Livingston told The Record last month the downsizing of staff and shutdown of the app was done to save resources for the legal battle with the SEC. The free messaging service cost an estimated $1.5 million per month to run, he said.

"We basically came to the realization that we could no longer afford to run Kik," he said last month.

jjackson@therecord.com

Twitter: @JamesDEJ

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

- Waterloo Region Kik employees could be transferred to another tech company

- Kik shutting down messenger app, laying off staff