Social media app Parler sold, temporarily goes offline so new owners can revamp platform

Parler, the social media app popular among conservatives, will go temporarily off line on Friday, as a result of it being sold to digital media conglomerate Starboard.

Starboard says it has bought Parler, which is similar to Twitter, for an undisclosed sum and will temporarily shut down the app so that it can roll out a revamped version of the platform, according to Reuters.

The deals follows the collapse of a deal months ago in which rapper-producer-designer Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, was interested in buying the platform from parent company Parlement Technologies.

Starboard, formerly Olympic Media was started in 2018 and already houses conservative-leaning platforms American Wire and BizPac Review, Reuters also reports.

The northern Virginia-based conglomerate did respond to the wire service's request for additional details on terms of the deal but said the deal will be "accretive" by the end of second quarter 2023.

Accretive is defined as a "gradual growth or increase."

The 5-year-old Parler was temporarily removed from the Google and Apple Inc's app stores after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.