Twitter said to pass on buying SoundCloud
What could've been the social network's biggest acquisition to date now appears to be kaput, according to reports.
Just a day after word leaked that Twitter might be interested in buying German music-streaming service SoundCloud, rumor now has it that the social-networking site has passed on the deal.
Both The Wall Street Journal and German newspaper Der Spiegel reported Tuesday that sources familiar with the matter say Twitter backed out of the acquisition talks. One source told the Journal that "the numbers didn't add up."
News broke on Monday that "="" to="" purchase="" soundcloud"="" shortcode="link" asset-type="article" uuid="6579ddec-241d-4732-90d3-e90ba28b1146" slug="twitter-reported-in-talks-to-buy-soundcloud" link-text="Twitter was " section="news" title="Twitter reportedly in talks to buy SoundCloud" edition="us" data-key="link_bulk_key" api="{"id":"6579ddec-241d-4732-90d3-e90ba28b1146","slug":"twitter-reported-in-talks-to-buy-soundcloud","contentType":null,"edition":"us","topic":{"slug":"online"},"metaData":{"typeTitle":null,"hubTopicPathString":"Tech^Services and Software^Online","reviewType":null},"section":"news"}"> -- a large, free, music-streaming service that lets anyone, from individuals to DJ collectives to bands, upload and share audio clips. If true, had a deal been reached, the acquisition would have been Twitter biggest to date.
Last year, SoundCloud raised a $60 million round of funding that valued it at $700 million. Twitter's most expensive purchase so far has been ad network MoPub, for which it paid about $350 million in October.
There are two obvious reasons Twitter was possibly looking to buy a privately held music-streaming company like SoundCloud. First is Twitter's longstanding desire to get closer to the music industry after its own #Music app was largely unsuccessful. Second, SoundCloud is said to have 250 million users worldwide, which could boost Twitter's growth.
It appears, however, those two reasons might not have been enough for Twitter to fork over hundreds of millions of dollars.
Both Twitter and SoundCloud declined to comment when contacted by CNET.