Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has rejected the IPO rumors and widely reported notion that the popular microblogging site is in talks to sell a 10% stake to JPMorgan Chase for $450 million -- which would have jacked up the site's valuation to $4.5 billion.
That's the value a $200 million venture investment led by Kleiner Perkins this week implies. But that means Twitter would have a price-to-sales ratio of 840 compared to Facebook's 26 -- or Google's 8.7. And Twitter's growth may be stalling.
Amid rumors that Twitter is considering pursuing another round of venture funding, the microblogging site's co-founder Evan Williams said his company has "a lot of money in the bank," and that its advertising efforts are paying off better than expected.
Twitter CEO Evan Williams is stepping down from the top job at the microblogging service to direct product strategy. Chief Operating Officer Dick Costolo, a successful entrepreneur and former Googler, will assume CEO duties.
Twitter.com's revamped site offers much-needed new functionality, but such functions and more are already available on Twitter clients. Worse, the latest Twitter.com incarnation really won't make it easier for the company to seriously monetize its hugely popular service.
Taken as a whole, 2009 was a great year for Twitter. The social media site neared 58 million registered users, each revealing life details in 140 characters or less. But the big gains came in the year's first half, leading some to begin to wonder whether Twitter has reached its peak.
Recent news that Twitter may be in the black is probably hasty. After a closer look at Twitter's deals and digging into the numbers, it becomes increasingly unlikely that Twitter has turned the corner. And 2010 could be ugly, too.
