Twitter is buyout bait for Google?

Posted Apr 3rd 2009 9:17AM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT)

A fun game in the social networking world is to buzz -- or tweet -- about buyout scenarios for Twitter. After all, it's been a while since we've had a big deal, such as Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) $1.6 billion purchase of YouTube in late 2006.

So, the chatter has surged again today with TechCrunch indicating that Google is making a play for Twitter. Keep in mind that earlier this year, Facebook tried to buy the site for $500 million or so.

The price tag from Google? It's definitely over $250 million.

The valuation could indeed get heated. I'm sure Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) wants to control the tweeting world too.

Funny enough, Google's CEO Eric Schmidt, recently dismissed Twitter as some kind of archaic email system. But in the deal world, it's usually a good idea to trash talk your prey, right? It helps to mute the valuation.

OK, so why the interest? Part of it is the Twitter brand, which is growing by the day. In other words, Google can instantly become a top player in the micro-blogging space.

What's more, Twitter has the potential for being a next-generation search engine. Already, there is search.twitter.com, which is pretty cool. Google certainly understands how to monetize such things, while Twitter is still fumbling around.

Besides, Twitter has a history with Google. The co-founder of Twitter, Evan Williams, sold Blogger to Google in early 2003. Why not a second bite at the apple?

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and the founder of BizEquity, a free online business valuation tool for small businesses. You can reach him on Twitter.

Tags: featured, goog, inthenews, msft, Twitter

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-03-2009 @ 9:37AM

becky said...

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Please sign petition and get 10 of your friends to do so. Thank you. THIS BILL WILL NOT COST AMERICANS ANY MONEY

HR 623 TO PERMIT EXPUNGEMENT (sealing) OF RECORDS OF CERTAIN NON VIOLENT FEDERAL CRIMINAL OFFENSES is a bill to amend the federal criminal code to allow an individual to file a petition for expungement of a record of conviction for certain nonviolent federal offenses. The is for non-violent federal crimes–not murder or child molesting. Please note states can expunge (seal) records of state crimes. So why not federal crimes. A federal crime now is a life sentence.

The bill specifies five criteria that individuals must meet in order to qualify for the Second Chance Act. They are:
No convictions for a violent offense and no conviction for a nonviolent offense other than the one they are trying to expunge.
Must have fulfilled all requirements of their sentence.
Must have remained free from drug or alcohol dependency for at least one year and have been rehabilitated to the court's satisfaction, if that is part of their sentence.
Must have obtained a high school diploma or GED.
Must have completed at least one year of community service

4-03-2009 @ 11:59AM

JIM G. said...

its hard to believe that Balmer is just sitting back and letting google move in on twitter. as a Msft shareholder i am quite upset as twitter would give msft what it needs without paying the yahoo price tag. will someone wake up balmer he must have fallen asleep on the job.