Facebook acquires mobile app maker Acrylic

SAN FRANCISCO —The engineer behind Canadian startup Acrylic is closing up his one-man shop and joining the design team at leading social network Facebook. Facebook confirmed that it has bought Acrylic in an “acqui-hire” that brings on board founder Dustin MacDonald, the creator of mobile gadget applications for newsfeeds and digital wallets.

Acrylic’s best-known applications were not acquired by Facebook in the deal. Buying promising startups for the talent and not its products has become common in the competitive Internet technology world.Facebook recently bought startups Spool and TagTile in “talent acquisitions” aimed at helping it stay in synch with users as they shift increasingly to using smartphones and tablet computers.