This is the best summary I could come up with:

Automattic, the company that runs WordPress.com, Tumblr, Pocket Casts, and a number of other popular web properties, just made a different kind of acquisition: it’s buying Texts, a universal messaging app, for $50 million.

The app also offers some additional features like AI-generated responses and summaries, but its primary purpose is to unify your many inboxes into a single interface.

“Self-publishing, commerce, and messaging covers a good chunk of all human activity, and they’re also three areas where I think an open-source solution is necessary for the long term.”

He also thinks the cloud security model might give existing messaging apps a reason to shut down Beeper and other attempts at interoperability.

“But I think we’ve cracked it in a way that maintains all the end-to-end encryption, and where Automattic has no access to your keys, your anything.” Right now, Texts is a $15 a month power-user tool, but Mullenweg says that could change over time.

Mullenweg and Automattic see a big future for messaging, as more online interaction shifts away from public-first social networks and toward things like group chats.

The original article contains 609 words, the summary contains 181 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!