Apple-Twitter talks said to end without any deal

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple isn't currently in talks with Twitter about investing in the operator of a micro- blogging service, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The companies were in discussions more than a year ago and talks ended without an agreement, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the deliberations were private.

The two held talks in recent months about Apple making an investment in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the New York Times reported on July 27.

The deal would have valued Twitter at more than $10 billion, the Times said. Representatives from Cupertino, California-based Apple and San Francisco-based Twitter declined to comment.

Twitter, while still smaller than online competitors Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., expects to generate at least $1 billion in sales in 2014, two people with knowledge of the matter have said.

Researchers at EMarketer Inc. have said that in 2014 Twitter advertising sales, which account for almost all its revenue, will rise to $540 million from $139.5 million last year.

The closely held company doesn't release sales figures. Twitter has stepped up a campaign to induce marketers to devote more of their advertising budgets to its service, which lets users post messages of no more than 140 characters to followers.

Source: http://economictimes.feedsportal.com/fy/8av2Fvy0cPsJ12qT/story01.htm

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