Facebook, Google size up Twitter takeover

Google Inc . and Facebook Inc., plus others, have held low level takeover talks with Twitter that give the Internet sensation a value as high as $10-billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In December, Twitter raised $200-million in financing in a deal that valued it at $3.7-billion. The company, which allows users to broadcast 140-character messages to groups of followers, had 175 million users as of September.

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The Wall Street Journal reported on its website that executives at Twitter have held “low level” talks with executives at Facebook and Google in recent months about a possible takeover of Twitter. Citing people familiar with the matter, the WSJ said other companies have also held similar talks.

“But what’s remarkable is the money that people familiar with the matter say frames the discussions with at least some potential suitors; an estimated valuation in the neighbourhood of $8-billion to $10-billion,” the report said. The paper said the talks have so far gone nowhere and that Google, Facebook and Twitter all declined to comment. Despite the valuation, the report said Twitter’s executives and board were working on building a large, independent company.

“People familiar with the situation said the company believes it can grow into a $100-billion company,” the WSJ said. Twitter, created in 2006, is among a crop of popular Internet social networking services that includes Facebook, Zynga and LinkedIn. A growing secondary market has developed in shares of the privately held Web sensations and investors are monitoring the companies closely in the hope they might float shares. It was only in the middle of 2010 that Twitter offered marketers a way to advertise on the service. Industry research firm eMarketer said last month that Twitter, which doesn’t disclose financial information, generated an estimated $45-million from advertising in 2010 and is expected to generate some $150-million this year. Google, the world’s No. 1 Internet search engine, generated roughly $29-billion in revenue in 2010 and Facebook, recently valued at $50-billion, produced about $1.9-billion, eMarketer said.

Warner Bros to offer movies on Facebook

Warner Bros. announced Monday it would begin testing a program that would offer movies for sale or rental for a brief period through its fan pages on the social-networking giant.

Beginning Tuesday, Facebook users can use Facebook Credits to rent "The Dark Knight" through the movie's official fan page on the social-networking site, Warner said in statement. The movie can be rented for 30 Facebook credits or $3, and Facebook users will have access to the movie for 48 hours through their accounts on the social network.

Facebook Credits is an alternative payment option for more than 150 games and applications on the social network. It's supported by games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars, as well as Bejeweled Blitz and Madden NFL Superstars. Most titles still allow gamers to pay with credit cards, but it's Facebook's hope that eventually, users will buy all virtual goods with Credits.

For more on this story, read Warner Bros. to deliver movies on Facebook on CNET News.

Zuckerberg's Facebook page hacked

Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook page was hacked on Tuesday to promote an alternative business plan for the social network site.

Unknown pranksters defaced the page with a message suggesting that Facebook ought to allow ordinary users to invest in the site in a "social way", rather than getting its financing from the banks.

The message referenced the microcredit concept promoted by Nobel Peace Prize winning economist Muhammad Yunus.

Microcredit involves extending small loans to poor people without collateral in order to help them pull themselves out of poverty. The brief defacement fails to explain how an idea that helped many people in the developing world might be applied to Facebook.

The alternative manifesto, appended with the hacker tag #hackercup2011, gained the thumbs up ("like") of more than 1800 people before the social network restored the boy-droid page to normal.

It's unclear how the hack took place, but weak password security by the team of minions maintaining the page is the most likely explanation.

The incident follows a similar hack on the profile of French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this week. A badly-worded update posted by miscreants falsely suggested Mr Carla Bruni would not seek re-election next year.