Recent reports have indicated that microblogging site Twitter may be weighing up the purchase of an online magazine tool.
Flipboard, which collates articles that are shared across social media into a tailored news feed, is said to be in the offing for a $1bn (£649.1m) payout.
According to Recode, a technology news provider, Twitter’s Anthony Noto, its chief financial officer, has been in talks with the aggregation app since early 2015. However, the discussions have been reportedly hitting a rough patch of late.
While any possible deal may prove beneficial to both parties, some commentators have been questioning the logic behind it.
Although Flipboard claimed last year to have had 100 million people sign up to its service, the figures have not been updated since, with a low uptake considered to be the reason. A deal that the company had with Samsung – wherein the app was preinstalled on its smartphones – has since been rescinded, while others have questioned whether a magazine format can work on modern handhelds.
However, with a predicted worth of $800m (£519.3m) and revenues of $50m (£32.5m), Flipboard’s acquisition could still prove worthwhile for Twitter. Also, a combination of the two platforms could potentially solve a number of issues for both companies.
In Flipboard’s case, it would be able to access Twitter’s more established advertising expertise, which would help further with its monetisation. Meanwhile, Twitter would be able to direct users to a more streamlined service for content, rather than people having to wade through other messages to find posts that interest them.
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