Twitter Reportedly in Talks to Acquire Flipboard Digital Magazine Service

Popular micro-blogging network Twitter is looking to augment its offerings with a new acquisition, as per a new report that claims the company has been in talks to buy digital magazine service Flipboard since the beginning of this year.

The report by Recode, cites multiple sources revealing that the acquisition might happen in an all-stock deal that values Flipboard at over $1 billion. Also mentioned is that Twitter's negotiations are being headed by company CFO, Anthony Noto. For now, however, Recode reports the deal seems to be stalled.

While the exact reason for Twitter's acquisition of Flipboard is not yet known, the firm may be seeking to bring Flipboard's experienced product team headed by well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mike McCue in its ranks. Other speculation about the fruits of the acquisition include Flipboard broadening its user base to Twitter's reach, and also gaining some major advertising partners from the micro-blogging network. Both companies however have declined to comment on the matter.

It is worth noting that McCue has previously been on Twitter's board of members but had to step down later in favour of Flipboard, which he co-founded. Based out of California, Flipboard was launched in 2010 and has raised more than $160 million in funding.

Flipboard in February launched its Web interface, and also announced 50 million monthly active users. The version, built over 1.5 years, has been designed to automatically fit to any screen size. Flipboard last year also bought rival app Zite in a deal valued at $60 million. McCue at the time of acquisition said the firm was interested in Zite's technology and recommendation engine.