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Comment by debacle | Hacker News Reader

The money wont last forever.

Seems like the only logical reason they are doing this is because they are in the start of an acquisition. They have to prove some type of revenue stream (ads) and restricting users to the twitter site/app will help them guarantee the made up numbers.

I very much doubt Twitter is interested in an acquisition.

Why do you say that? It is likely their only out at this point.

Sell the network effect, let someone else try and monetize it.

Probably because they are too big to be bought by anyone but Google and Google has already moved on.

Facebook already has a social network. Google already has a social network. Apple's probably not interested in running one post-Ping. Who else is going to purchase them at a price their investors - who've sunk over a billion in VC $ - wouldn't balk at?

Have they really had over a billion in investment capital? I realize they may have had investment rounds valuing the company at 1bil+, that doesn't mean they were given a billion dollars.

Crunchbase says 1.16B invested: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/twitter

A different question is, who would want to buy them? Twitter, who should know their network better than everyone else, is still trying to figure out how to best monetize it. Who would want to take that task on?

In the old days, I'd guess Yahoo! would be in the running, but since they have a history of buying popular sites and then letting them wither, I hope Meyer isn't going to fall for that again.

I would be surprised but not totally shocked if either Microsoft or Apple bought Twitter. Tight integration into OS and devices + the huge critical mass of active social users + the social and cultural relevance of Twitter would be assets for them.

And as for Microsoft, it would have been more interesting than buying a client side software (Skype).

Twitter would be a great acquisition for a media property.

AOL/Time Warner, part deux?

Do they have a choice? It's not as if IPO is a choice, and their runway is starting to look short.

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