197: What Company Should Buy Twitter?

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Twitter has been in the news as a company that is for sale. Apparently Google, Yahoo, salesforce.com, Disney and others have been taking a look at it.

IMHO, it belongs with a media company because Twitter is the next form of media after radio and TV.

As I mentioned in my previous podcast about the DDoS cyber attack, I found out about it because Twitter was down and I Googled it. This is the way we think now. I didn't turn on TV until it was my fourth choice for news after Twitter, Facebook and Google!

It's the first 2 way media we've had, meaning you can get instant feedback from viewers. For example, BRAVO TV uses it to take polls on their show - who is the most/least popular?

They also use it to gather questions to ask in interviews.

But more recently mainstream media has been using it as a source of stories.

Media used to be top-down, but now they are driven by the narrative that is occurring on the "trending hashtags" of Twitter.

It's what people are talking about and thinking - in real time!

The first time I used Twitter years ago, I thought it was crazy. Someone tweeted about what they ate for breakfast. I couldn't care less!

Then I used it as a business tool, posting blogs and podcasts.

People are using it as a media platform. Combined with Periscope, anyone can be their own TV station.

It's live, then recorded and tweeted out to your followers.

The reason I bring this all up is I think Twitter should be bought by a media company - either a TV station or a newspaper. It would fit perfectly with their objectives, they could raise revenues by getting more advertising and it would be the next phase of media in this age. If I were the investment banker on the deal, I'd pitch it hard to the Washington Post, which also is owned by Jeff Bezos, who owns Amazon and is the second richest man in the US. It would be perfect for both companies.

Although there are rumors from time to time about who will or won't buy Twitter, the main problem is the $16 billion to $18 billion valuation. It's very richly valued and although I think it will be worth much more in the future, not everyone wants to shell out that cash.

Personally, I think it would be a much better buy than the $26 billion Microsoft paid for LinkedIn, but we'll have to wait to see if I'm right about that.

Whomever buys it seems to be waiting for the price to drop some more, but I do think when the price is right, a buyer will step up to the plate.

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