Twitter Co-Founder Responds to Google Takeover Rumors

San Francisco -- Responding to rampant speculation that his company is in talks with potential suitor Google, Biz Stone, the co-founder of San Francisco-based microblogging service Twitter on Friday did little to quell the rumors. "It should come as no surprise that Twitter engages in discussions with other companies regularly and on a variety of subjects," Stone wrote in a blog post. "Our goal is to build a profitable, independent company and we're just getting started." TechCrunch reported that Mountain View-based Google is currently in talks to acquire the company, which recently was valued at $250 million. The news comes just a few months after Twitter turned down an acquisition offer by Facebook, believed to be worth around $500 million. Other sources believe that the discussions may lead to a partnership between the companies. Twitter currently has just over 30 employees and works out of a loft in San Francisco's SoMA neighborhood.
http://blog.twitter.com/2009/04/sometimes-we-talk.html
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/02/sources-google-in-late-stage-talks-to-buy-twitter/