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Acquisitions To Help Twitter Become Profitable In 2010

Posted on: Tuesday, 24 November 2009, 13:05 CST

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said on Tuesday that the popular micro-blogging site is interested in making more acquisitions as it continues to grow in popularity, Reuters reported.

Stone told a news conference in Tel Aviv that new acquisitions were something the company is definitely interested in, considering they made an acquisition last year that turned out to be “an outstandingly good decision.”

However, he said there was nothing specific on the horizon, but they would continue to look at what developers were coming up with.

Twitter bought search engine Summize in 2008.

“Twitter will start making money in 2010 as it unveils a plan early next year on how it will produce revenue through advertising,” Stone said.

While he didn’t offer any specifics, he said any advertising would be "non-traditional."

"There are no dates when we need to break even. We have plenty of money in the bank," he said.

Twitter received a new round of funding in September from investors including mutual fund giant T. Rowe Price and private equity firm Insight Venture Partners – a move analysts believe sets the stage for an eventual initial public offering or sale.

The new funds totaled $100 million, theoretically valuing the company at $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Twitter may eventually go to the stock market for funding if necessary, Stone said on Monday.

Twitter has become one of the world's fastest-growing social Internet companies. The micro-blogging service lets people send, or tweet, 140-character text messages to groups of "followers".

Tracker comScore shows that worldwide visitors to Twitter’s site hit 44.5 million in June, up 15-fold from a year earlier.

Last month, Twitter forged deals with Microsoft and Google to allow access for its real-time content.

The company also linked up with professional social network site LinkedIn earlier in November.

“Twitter is looking to partner with as many websites as possible but will still keep its platform open for developers,” Stone said.

He said that for now, Twitter would be in English with a next wave into French, German, Italian and Spanish Stone.

"If that works out well, you will see more languages," he said.

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Source: RedOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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