Google/Twitter acquisition rumor goes down in flames
Is Google about to buy Twitter? The rumor mill has been buzzing for some time, but was given new fuel last night after a late-night TechCrunch report said two separate sources allegedly claimed Google was in “late stage negotiations” to acquire Twitter.
I don’t believe it, for one simple reason: AllThingsD reporter Kara Swisher, legally married in San Francisco to Google exec Megan Smith, is jumping up and down to deny the story.
Why should I believe Swisher more than anyone else? Simple: Swisher, a notorious gossipmonger (that’s a compliment) prides herself on being right and being first. If Google really does buy Twitter, she’ll look like either an idiot or a stooge for her wife’s company.
The Financial Times has an outsidery analysis of why the acquisiton doesn’t make sense. Reporter Chris Nutall cites a source close to Twitter who called the rumor “fiction,” probably an overblown presumption based on meetings between the two companies to talk about working together. In tech, those meetings happen all the time.
But I’m banking on Swisher’s smackdown. If Google really were close to buying Twitter, she’d be the first to know.
From The Standard
Are an idiot or a stooge for my wife’s company my only choices? Gee, that stinks!
Actually, I have said time and again that I thought Google would be the likely acquirer for Twitter if it WERE to be sold. I said it in late February, I said it in the report on the late-stage acquisitions not happening, I said in in a follow-up.
Google might very well buy Twitter someday. Just not last week.
My report simply said that the rumors that they were in late-stage acquisition talks were not true. TechCrunch, which wrote the original report, even backed away from the late-stage story and shifted it to possible early talks on a deal and also product talks.
I was simply doing follow-up reporting on what was billed as a big story.
BTW, I might be the first to know and I might not. I try hard to get stuff before others, but there are a lot of great reporters out there.