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Twitter, Google Talks Ongoing

New sources corroborate last Friday's report in TechCrunch that Google is in talks to buy Twitter. However, according to these sources, Google's internal valuation of the microblogging service is at "a token premium" above its last round of financing, or around $250 million. Some employees desperately want a deal, but the TechCrunch sources said that Twitter CEO Evan Williams wouldn't even sell for $1 billion. "He may blink but he wouldn't do it," said one source. Of course, the other problem is that Twitter might be viewed as a search-related acquisition, inviting more antitrust scrutiny for Google.

Clearly, talks are happening, but Twitter maintains, as any company would in such circumstances, that it has no intention of selling. In a blog post, co-founder Biz Stone wrote, "Our goal is to build a profitable, independent company and we're just getting started." Whether or not Google would pay more than $1 billion for Twitter remains an open question, but Michael Arrington notes that "there's no way Microsoft lets a deal be negotiated without putting its bid in, too. And if these two giants see Twitter as the future of search, $1 billion is peanuts."

The other possible outcome is some kind of partnership between Google and Twitter. According to Arrington, Google wants a real time feed of Twitter updates to speed up its indexing process. Currently, the search giant is indexing Twitter feeds at a "dreadfully slow" rate. "A real time feed would be of huge value to Google, and they'd be smart to nail down a long term deal sooner rather than later," he says.

Read the whole story at TechCrunch »

1 comment about "Twitter, Google Talks Ongoing ".
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  1. George Ramos from Guias Local Inc., April 7, 2009 at 4:24 p.m.

    Biz Stone wants to hold company? Sounds like a 90's dot com phenom afraid to let his creation go. Those who are techies know that the Twitter program is easy and can be altered into another program or innovation. Many clones are in the works. Twitter is fun and easy to use, as is their code and functionality. Search companies and social engines are confused of this 140 character phenomenon to search. It reminds me of blogging and bookmarking in its early stages. It is almost as if everything innovated online has been on hold until they cool down. I for one love Twitter, although I foresee in the next months big portals and engines will have a Twitter like functionality for their audience to keep their audience retention. The hype and fires will be diminished with progress. Twitter should learn from the mistakes of other hot companies that went cold. Take a good offer or you will be left holding the bag. If this was a nano-technology company which created a way to save human organs. Totally different story.

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