Twitter CFO Hints at Acquisition With Accidental Public Tweet

Twitter chief financial officer Anthony Noto has mistakenly published a direct message as a public tweet and generated wide speculation about the company’s acquisition plans.

Noto posted his message on Monday, but has since removed it. It is not clear who it was directed at, but the meaning is reasonably clear. It suggests that the company is near to a deal, and that Noto is recommending that it is closed soon.

“I still think we should buy them,” he said. “He is on your schedule for Dec 15 or 16 – we will need to sell him.”

ClickZ’s sister publication V3 has asked Twitter for more information about the message, but the company declined to comment.

Speculation on the acquisition is rife, however, and reports are linking the social network with a range of properties that would offer Twitter and its users a range of benefits.

One suggestion, which has some credence because of a hint of interest from Noto, is that Twitter may be interested in buying Snapchat, a firm that has already dismissed attention from Facebook.

Reports say that Noto, who is a light Twitter user, had recently favourited a tweet by Snapchat chief executive (CEO) Evan Spiegel.

However, while the Snapchat and Facebook discussions were reportedly about the price of the business, Noto’s favourite was applied to a photo of a dessert shared by the CEO.

Epic pic.twitter.com/e0tOYlC9Am

— Evan Spiegel (@evanspiegel) November 24, 2014

Twitter and other social networks have been on acquisition drives this year. Twitter reported a loss in its most recent financials, but has increased its investment in development and business services.

The company announced in October that it will work with IBM on business intelligence options, and put $10m into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Laboratory for Social Machines.

This article was originally published on V3.