Twitter buyout by Facebook or Google?

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Twitter buyout by Facebook or Google?

Rosalind

10:22 am on Feb 10, 2011 (gmt 0)

Twitter 'in early talks with potential buyers Facebook and Google' [guardian.co.uk]

Twitter has been holding talks with potential suitors, including Facebook and Google, which could value the micro-blogging site at $10bn (Ł6.2bn), reports suggest.

The early talks are not believed to have progressed far but, according to the Wall Street Journal, one thing has been agreed: the loss-making firm is worth somewhere between $8-10bn.

I think it's overvalued, if history teaches us anything, especially if it's still making a loss.

[edited by: engine at 2:26 pm (utc) on Feb 10, 2011]
[edit reason] added quote [/edit]

engine

2:54 pm on Feb 10, 2011 (gmt 0)

I can see how it would fit in with FB, but Google's just being greedy. ;)

On the other hand, I would prefer to see it remain independent. That's not up to me, of course.

StoutFiles

4:25 pm on Feb 10, 2011 (gmt 0)

Facebook already has Status Updates...just let people change their settings to allow Status Updates to be seen by anyone. Then let people "follow" those updates. And now you have Twitter.

Or they could throw 10 billion into a sinking ship! There's a reason Twitter's talking with those companies, and I bet it has something to do with the fact that they don't make money and have maxed out the idea.

ddogg

7:57 pm on Feb 10, 2011 (gmt 0)

I'm pretty sure Facebook doesn't have $10 billion to spend on anything so that's not going to happen. Google on the other hand, well that would make much more sense as it fits their business perfectly.

LostOne

11:11 pm on Feb 10, 2011 (gmt 0)

Over valued? No doubt OMG. It isn't April Fools Day is it? I must be real freaking old (53) because I still don't get Twitter at all.

Sgt_Kickaxe

12:35 am on Feb 11, 2011 (gmt 0)

10 bn for what is essentially a toned down version of ICQ (remember that?)?!?

Facebook should implement a twitter like feature and call it their "woofer" or some such, tempting people to shout out a "woof" or a "bark" instead of a "tweet" but that's just me. NO WAY Twitter is worth 10bn imo.

What MIGHT be worth 10bn is the fact that most major celebrities have an account on it, that's priceless.

LifeinAsia

12:46 am on Feb 11, 2011 (gmt 0)

tempting people to shout out a "woof"

Already been done on The Office [youtube.com] :)

rogerd

3:47 am on Feb 11, 2011 (gmt 0)

Wow. Definitely not based on revenue. I guess we're back to eyeballs.

tenerifejim

9:18 am on Feb 11, 2011 (gmt 0)

Microsoft should buy it. They need to start encroaching into FB territory before they fall too far behind like they did with Google and Search.

driller41

11:57 am on Feb 11, 2011 (gmt 0)

I suppose Google's only interest would be it's usage data for ranking usage, still I cannot see it adding 10Billion in value to their bottom end.

Rosalind

12:32 pm on Feb 11, 2011 (gmt 0)

I don't know if they need to buy Twitter to use it for ranking. I mean, they already do this. So the question is, what else would they learn by buying it? Another way of linking someone's online activity to a single Google account, say?

graeme_p

12:08 pm on Feb 13, 2011 (gmt 0)

Twitter is not making the revenues it could. The total revenue making activity I see on the web interface is a single promoted trend.

If they (for example) injected the occasional ad into the stream of tweets, they could make much more money.

Other types of ads are not that attractive as they need to show on clients that use the twitter API.

votrechien

3:15 am on Feb 14, 2011 (gmt 0)

This is a purchase in vanity if anyone buys this company for that much. Twitter has almost celebrity like status right now, but as many (many many many) people have pointed out, the potential for the company to ever post serious profits is questionable and not to mention it's a service that screams of 'fad'.