Google in Twitter takeover rumours
The blogosphere has gone into virtual meltdown over rumours that Google could be set to buy popular micro-blogging platform Twitter.
On Thursday night technology startup blog Techcrunch reported that Google, which has previously denied all speculation they might be interested in Twitter, was on the verge of a sealing a deal worth well in excess of $250 million.
Twitter recently rejected a stock offer worth $500 million from social networking site Facebook, though it is thought the Google bid would be all cash.
However, respected Silicon Valley blogger Kara Swisher of AllThingsD has rubbished Techcrunch’s claims, suggesting that although there have been talks, they were limited to “product-related discussions” rather than a takeover deal.
It is known that Google has recently become interested in the real-time nature of Twitter conversation, and is keen to find ways to incorporate them into its own search results.
Whether or not Twitter choose to sell, many believe a large offer from Google would be hard to resist for a company that hasn’t yet figured out how it will make money in the long-term from its growing user base.
“Now is the time for Twitter to sell. It is at the top of its hype range now. Monetizing on its own would be a long, hard slog.” said Jeff Mann of research firm Gartner.
Although neither Twitter nor Google has commented directly on the speculation, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said last night that he expected Twitter to remain a “strong, independent” company.
Another reason to doubt whether the deal will go ahead is the potential regulatory problems it would throw up. Google ran into competition trouble recently trying to come to strike an advertising deal with Yahoo - a takeover for a company with growing presence in real-time search would likely be strongly opposed by competitors such as Microsoft.
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