Twitter's Stone says no plans for an IPO or funding

Computerworld - Twitter co-founder Biz Stone reportedly said today that the company is making money and there are no plans for Twitter to go public in the near future.

Stone, speaking at a business forum in Seoul Thursday, said the micro-blogging company doesn't need to go looking for funding in the next 12 months because it's making money on its own, according to a report from Reuters.

"We have so many other things before we even think about that," Stone said when asked about the prospects of an IPO. "We are not even discussing it internally. It's too far off."

Questions about Twitter considering an IPO couldn't have been a surprise since there have been recent reports that LinkedIn and Facebook, both major players in the social networking world, are considering IPOs.

LinkedIn, generally considered to be a second-tier social networking player, may beat all the rest to an IPO. The Wall Street Journal reported in January that LinkedIn is expected to file papers in the first quarter of this year in pursuit of an IPO. The Journal also reported about the same time that Facebook could be taking steps to prepare its own IPO papers.

And that latest report of a possible IPO for Facebook came just months after Facebook board member, venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel said Facebook was looking at making an initial public offering sometime after late 2012.

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed . Her e-mail address is sgaudin@computerworld.com.

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