HootSuite announced today that it has acquired Seesmic, a competitor in the social marketing management software space. 

This via WebProNews 

 Both companies develop platforms that allow people and businesses to coordinate and monitor their marketing across multiple social network platforms.

“We’ve always been big fans of Ryan Holmes and the HootSuite team, since the days we were all pioneering the social media landscape.” said Seesmic CEO Loïc Le Meur. “We’re thrilled today to announce that Seesmic is joining HootSuite, and we’re excited for our users: they are becoming part of the HootSuite family, and they will be able to continue to build their brand and social business.”

HootSuite and Seesmic were founded around the same time in 2008

Source 

And this via the HootSuite blog...

It is a logical step in the lifecycle of both companies, who have shared many similarities since they were founded four years ago. Seesmic is a cross-platform application that was founded in 2008 by super entrepreneur and blogger Loïc Le Meur. HootSuite’s acquisition of a major player is yet another milestone in the company’s recent hyper-growth. HootSuite focuses on the needs of power users, so Seesmic’s business and enterprise customers will further reinforce HootSuite’s position in the upper left quadrant of the Twitter Partner graph:

Twitter’s recent changes to its API and the launch of the Twitter partner program means a more concerted effort in tools and services for business users- the upper left (Diagram source: Twitter)