March 03, 2011, 2:26 PM — Twitter co-founder Biz Stone on Thursday knocked down rumors that the microblogging service was looking for funding or planning an initial public offering of stock.
(Also see: Is Twitter really worth more than $4 billion?)
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that J.P. Morgan Chase was negotiating to invest a 10 percent stake in Twitter, citing "people familiar with the matter." The reported $450 million investment would value the five-year-old company at $4.5 billion.
But Stone says it ain't so. From Reuters:
Twitter has no plans to go public any time soon and does not need additional funds because it is making money, the co-founder of the popular microblogging site said.
"We have so many other things before we even think about that," Biz Stone told Reuters at a business forum in Seoul on Thursday when asked about the prospects of an IPO.
"We are not even discussing it internally. It's too far off," he said.
Stone specifically dismissed the J.P. Morgan Chase rumor as "made up."
Of course, when Stone says Twitter doesn't need any funding, he means it doesn't need any new funding. The venture fund created by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen invested $80 million in Twitter just last month, while the company raised a $200 million funding round in December.
Twitter began generating advertising revenue last April and is expected to hit sales of $150 million this year and $250 million in 2012. But those estimates were made before Charlie Sheen infused Twitter with his tiger blood. They might want to add a few more zeroes now.
Chris Nerney writes about the business side of technology market strategies and trends, legal issues, leadership changes, mergers, venture capital, IPOs and technology stocks. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisNerney.
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