Likely, Boomtown’s Kara Swisher gets tired of being the TechCrunch Google-rumor-debunker. Maybe not. She seemed to enjoy reminding readers about the Michael Arrington grapevines sprouting out tales of Google buying Digg and Bebo, neither of which ever happened. This time it’s Twitter.
Kara Swisher
In the comments of TechCrunch’s rumor report that Google was in late-stage talks to buy Twitter, Arrington notes that posting a rumor is a good way of shaking out information. Maybe next time he should just give Swisher a call and save everybody a lot of trouble. Swisher, married to a Google executive, generally has the better inside scoop.
Here’s what a Swisher source had to say about it: “Seriously, no negotiations, no deal, nada.”
That’s more in line with Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s earlier statement about sitting on Google’s money until the economy gets better. With unemployment at a predicted peak last month, that could be as early as this summer, if you’re the extra-optimistic type. Although CEOs of multinational corporations are notorious liars about everything, Schmidt’s generally made good on what he puts out to the public.
Swisher’s sources say there have been preliminary discussions between Google and Twitter about real time search and “product stuff.” That seems to match up with AdAge’s report that Google will be using Twitter to sell AdSense ads. Advertisers will have the opportunity to stream their five most recent tweets all across the AdSense network.
If Google made an offer for Twitter, an offer that would have to be near the billion-dollar range, it might be because every Tom, Dick, and Harry outside of Google really, really wants Google to buy Twitter. While Tom, Dick, (Mike) and Harry are pushing the deal, Robert Scoble reminds his audience that Google historically has been where good microblogging companies go to die.
Remember Jaiku? Dodgeball? If so, it’s only because you were aware of them before Google bought them.
