Acquihire in mid-2011 http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/bitly-acquires-twitterfeed...

Mario continued to work mostly independently on Twitterfeed for many years, maybe up until now.

Legend has it that one of the motivations for the acquisition was to help with a work visa situation for another employee from the UK, Mike Dewar. He was a graduate student in NYC who did an internship (or similar) at Bitly, but had to move back to the UK when he finished/discontinued his studies. So they had Twitterfeed hire him, then acquired Twitterfeed, then he was able to move back to the US office. Just hear-say from long ago, I don't recall any details :)

why would you make this kind of info public?

Legend has it that ploxiln from NYC that worked on Bitly is a disgruntled employee that had a problem with the company and/or the engineer he mentioned. Just hear-say from long ago, I don't recall any details :)

I don't see how what I said carries any negative connotations about anyone. Jeez.

Why would someone be discouraged from making this kind of info public?

Mentioning someone's name specifically feels off to me. It doesn't assist in explaining anything, just invades their privacy.