NEW YORK — Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. have both held low-level talks with Twitter Inc. about purchasing the privately held social networking service, according to a report published Thursday.
The talks have valued Twitter at $8 billion to $10 billion, according to unnamed sources cited by The Wall Street Journal. The sources said the company had 2010 revenue of $45 million but lost money as it hired and invested in data centers, according to the Journal.
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Also last month, LinkedIn, a social networking site geared toward professionals, filed to go public in an initial public offering worth up to $175 million.
Twitter and Facebook declined to comment. Google did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Google's stock fell $3.08 to $613.42 in afternoon trading.