Contentinople - Erin Barker - News Bits: New Funding Round Values Twitter at $1B

Written by Erin Barker

Thursday, September 17. 2009 at 10:30 AM EDT 1 comment

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Twitter Inc. is closing a new round of financing at a $1 billion valuation, according to reports.

TechCrunch reported yesterday that "multiple sources" claim Twitter is raising around $50 million at the valuation, with Insight Venture Partners as the primary investor.

Earlier this year, Twitter brought in $35 million in a round that valued the company at $250 million, led by Benchmark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners.

So far Twitter hasn't commented publicly, although CEO Evan Williams is said to have announced the news to employees.

In other news:

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) has introduced nine apps for the new Zune HD. These apps are free from the Zune's "Marketplace," but there's one catch: Each displays a pre-roll ad during its load time. It's not clear whether the device's upcoming Twitter and Facebook apps will sport ads as well.

Facebook has been named one of the top 10 most trusted brands in the U.S. in a study by Ponemon Institute and TRUSTe. Despite all the hubbub over its terms of service earlier this year, the site came in at No. 10 -- indicating, perhaps, that Facebook handled the controversy well. Other Web properties that made the top 10 include eBay, WebMD, and Yahoo.

Tags: Business, Facebook, Microsoft, Zune

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Pre-roll ads while apps download?
Steve Donohue
Rank: Vizier
Thursday September 17, 2009 3:18:53 PM

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That's a nifty idea from Microsoft, running pre-roll ads while a free application is downloading. All I get to see while downloading apps on my oft-ridiculed android G1 phone is a status bar -- I wouldn't mind a pre-roll spot while an app is downloading. But if Microsoft, Apple or any other company insisted on running pre-roll ads while downloading paid apps, that might cause a bit of a ruckus.

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