The Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) acquisition mystery is only growing, as speculation from several sources, including CNBC and ReCode, says that the eye of Twitter’s desire is Shots, the self promoting “selfie” picture application favored by teens and appropriately backed by pop star Justin Bieber.
Twitter’s potential acquisition target meeting
The rampant speculation regarding Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)’s next acquisition target advanced to another dimension recently when newly appointed Twitter CFO Anthony Noto sent out what appeared to be an errant tweet Monday about a potential acquisition target meeting. “I still think we should buy them. He is on your schedule for Dec 15 or 16 – we need to sell him. I have a plan.”
The tweet was quickly deleted by Noto, but not before journalists grabbed a screen capture of the tweet.
The tin foil hat conspiracy speculation surrounding the tweet gained momentum on CNBC, as Dick Grasso said it wasn’t a mistake but rather a cleverly disguised method to float a trial balloon. “Is there anyone on this desk that believes that tweet was a real error,” he asked, then quickly answered his own question. “No. This is a guy who came from Goldman. This is a smart guy,” as Grasso continued to elaborate on Nato’s educational background to bolster his claim the tweet wasn’t a mistake.
Grasso was quickly questioned by the host and other CNBC panelists who speculated it was a simple mistake. (In CNBC’s article accompanying the video they reported that “Twitter’s acquisition plans became the subject of hot speculation on Monday after CFO Anthony Noto accidentally tweeted a message about making plans for a deal.”)
Shots is Twitter’s next target?
Speculation that it was Shots that Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) was referring to was outlined in a ReCode article that based the notion on both recent meetings and business logic:
Shots co-founders John and Sam Shahidi have had multiple meetings at Twitter headquarters over the past month, according to people familiar with the discussions. The selfie app has a highly engaged teenage audience, and both CEO John Shahidi and Shots investor Justin Bieber are big time Twitter users, and many of the most popular Vine users are also on the app. Twitter has also spent the past year improving the photo experience on the service, so a photo app may fit into the company’s overall product roadmap.
ReCode also speculated that other potential targets might include Mic News, Storehouse, Secret, Prismatic, Drawbridge and Shopular. Speculation has been rampant that Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) needs to make a transformational acquisition to boost it to the next level or it could stall. While analysts have said that the Shots application could be a move in the right direction, they also claim it is not of a significant scale that might move the needle of the stock price.
