Well it wasn't expected after they said back in January that it wasn't going to happen.

There are two outcomes after the acquisition of a small company. You can tell based on their announcement message:

* "It's been an amazing journey!" --> shut down.

* "We have no plans to shut the service down" --> shut down.

You should never believe any of the "we won't close the doors" post-acquire statements. It's the exception to the rule when they keep them running.

> It's the exception to the rule when they keep them running.

Not necessarily, acquisitions aren't all one kind of thing. The motive for the acquisition greatly impacts the outcome. If it's a technology/IP acquisition or a personnel acquisition, then yes, generally expect that the original company's products will vanish. Why? Because the products were never part of the recognized value of the purchase.

If it's a business process acquisition, then it's more likely the product(s) will remain. This depends more on the motives and details of the acquiring vs. the acquired companies. If the acquisition leaves the acquired as a wholly-owned subsidiary, then one can expect the products to remain.

"everything will stay the same" doesn't just mean "doens't close down." Look at Yahoo!'s attempts over the years to integrate products into their ecosystem by forcing users to needs a Yahoo! account for new sign-ups.

The parent was responding to your blanket skepticism of "we won't close the doors", not "everything will stay the same".