Apple to buy Twitter for $700M
Ivan | Tue, 2009-05-05 20:45Apple and Twitter are reportedly in serious negotiations over a possible $700 million sale of the social networking site, with the deal set to be announced in June if successful.
Of course this is all based on speculation from a source close to ValleyWag, which states that he's been recruited by Apple and says the two are locked in talks over a potential sale.
The figure of $700 million (around £460m) comes after Twitter turned down $500 million plus shares from Facebook in the past, but apparently a source close to Twitter says Apple's offer would be hard to turn down.
The question would obviously remain, no matter who buys the company, how would it make any money? Twitter still has to define a business model that would generate the significant income a 6 million user base and over 1,300 per cent growth should be bringing.
The only likely option would be for Apple to integrate the Twitter model into its iPhone / Mac services... although given the plethora of options available for both those models already, it's hardly like it would be bringing a huge new fan base to those machines.
Too much cash
But on the other hand, given Apple has a reported $30 billion in cash these days, buying Twitter would be nothing more than small change for the company really, so in reality Jobs could just buy it in order to have Twitter stickers put all over Apple HQ's walls.
This isn't the only company Apple's linked with at the moment, as it apparently also has videogame manufacturer EA in its sights according to rumours.
Given the amount of chat we're hearing from sources about Apple's sudden interest in using the iPhone as a gaming platform, this isn't outside the realms of reality, especially as the likelihood is that games will soon be delivered in the same manner as iTunes provides music and TV shows at the moment.
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I'm sorry, but this is one big irresponsible article to post.
1. The headline states it as fact, when there is no proof whatsoever. At the very least there should be a "Rumor:" in the front of it or a question mark at the end.
2. How many times in the past have ANY of the rumors about Apple taking over any large, well-known company been true?
3. Many respectable people have already dismissed this rumor.
And I don't even know how in the current financial climate especially ANY company can be accused of having "too much cash."
You're right, I got over excited. So much Apple could do with Twitter. I pulled it from the front page.
Thanks Ivan. CreativeBits is a classy place and I like to see it stay that way. :D
I have to admit that I started thinking about the possibilities myself when I first heard about this before I started checking around some more. Do you really think Twitter has that much potential longterm? I'm thinking back to when we all thought MySpace was the future and they seem to be losing luster and market share to Twitter and FaceBook.
It's potentially a messaging platform like SMS, but more powerful. The site itself isn't important. The important thing is there is a critical mass of people who can kick start any other cool tool. There is one thing twitter can do that no other site or service can. Live feed of crowd-sourced info on any subject anywhere in the world. It's a huge untapped potential.
"Valleywag" gave me pause...
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Anyway!
Apart from this being nothing else than a speculation I will try to explain why this might be actually good for Apple besides that they have cash to buy it.
Twitter is a strong concurrent to Google in search.
Apple has been rumored before for thinking of participating in search.
So buying Twitter will give Apple enough edge to jump into the search market.
Making a business model isn't that hard to figure out if you are Apple... but even if I am wrong they eventually will copy the google approach of monetizing their search.
Worth thinking about if you ask me.
Greetings from Bulgaria!
Yavor Ivanov