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VIDEOTweets Abound Over Possible Google-Twitter Deal
By
Scott Reeves Apr 03, 2009 10:05 am
Brief scrutiny of today's headlines.
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TechCruch reports that Google (GOOG) is in “late stage negotiations” to acquire Twitter.
Be wary of this sizzle-the-pixels yarn. The reporter notes: “Here’s a heck of a rumor that we’ve sourced from two separate people…”
How do you “source” rumor? Does this mean the reporter heard the same silly thing from 2 different people who may have heard it from a third loony? Just asking.
But the story, if accurate, is a good one.
“We’ve been arguing for some time that Twitter’s real value is in search,” TechCrunch says. “It holds the keys to the best real time database and search engine on the Internet and Google doesn’t even have a horse in the game…All (search information) is discoverable at swearch.twitter.com, the search engine that Twitter acquired last summer.”
Individual searches could be monetized by pegging ads to content and even brand names. Hmmm, sounds vaguely familiar.
There’s no price tag attached to the rumor, but TechCrunch notes Twitter rejected $500 million or so from FaceBook a few months ago. The guess is that Google would buy Twitter in a cash and stock deal.
If there’s anything to the chatter, the obvious question is: Where’s Microsoft (MSFT)?
“Letting Twitter go to Google only hurts (Microsoft), badly, in the long-term search game,” TechCrunch says. “This is an asset they need to be competing for aggressively.”
Might the simple student also ask: where’s Yahoo (YHOO)?
The silence of Microsoft and Yahoo suggests the rumor is bogus because both companies are aware of the competitive landscape. Or, perhaps the rumormongers didn’t think of the added wrinkle when cooking up the story. Maybe that part of the rumor couldn’t be "sourced."
There are many ways to slice this one, starting with the obvious: Someone is trying to boost the value of Twitter. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time the press -- oops, bloggers in exalted cyberspace -- have been jerked around for the benefit of others.
TechCrunch posted the blog entry on April 2, so perhaps someone is just a little slow picking up on an April Fool’s joke. Earlier chatter about News Corp. (NWS) snapping up Twitter was just a yuk pegged to April 1.
Google’s investor relations website boldly proclaims the availability of proxy materials for its 2009 annual stockholders’ meeting, but doesn’t have a word about Twitter.
Well now, conspiracy buffs, that just figures, doesn’t it?
No positions in stocks mentioned.
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