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Step Right Up! Let's Play Guess Twitter's Valuation

Guess Twitter's worth! Everybody's doing it, and valuations for the micro-blogging service are all over the board. Just months ago, a figure of $250 million was called "staggering." More recently, Buddy Media head Michael Lazerow recommended that Microsoft or Google shell out $2 billion for the company, while blogger Robert Scoble previously pegged it at a whopping $5-10 billion.

Now, it appears that a group of investors have arrived at the respectable sum of $1 billion, and -- of critical importance -- they're willing to put their money where their mouths are.

Multiple sources are telling TechCrunch that Twitter is involved in another round of financing to the tune of $50 million -- which would add to about $55 million raised already -- from, but not exclusive to, Insight Venture Partners.

On the news, Valley Wag quipped, "The company has proven far more adept at finessing moneyed suitors than in groping for reliable revenue streams," before speculating: "Twitter's trend-hopping founders, whose project management company begat their blogging company which led to their podcasting company which begat Twitter, seem more likely to seize on the easy exit of the former rather than the long grind of the latter."

ReadWriteWeb writes: "Given the fact that Twitter turned down an offer to be purchased by Facebook earlier in the year, it appears the two are about to tango." It's unclear whether the publication is alluding to love or war, but we assume the latter.

To be clear, that $1 billion valuable isn't really a billion dollar valuation, according to Media Memo. "Twitter's new investors, along with older investors who have reupped, believe the company will ultimately be worth much more than $1 billion," it writes. "In order to get a return on their money, they will expect it to hit $3 billion or more."

That "staggering" $250 million valuation was made earlier this year in conjunction with a round of financing reportedly worth over $35 million from the likes of Benchmark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners.

Read the whole story at TechCrunch et al. »

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