September 24th, 2009
What does staid T. Rowe Price see in Twitter?
Twitter is reportedly close to raising $100 million in funding at a valuation approaching $1 billion.
According to the Wall Street Journal Twitter may get the new funding from as many as seven investors. Tech Crunch reported that Twitter was going to be valued at $1 billion.
While you can argue over whether Twitter is worth $1 billion one alleged investor caught my eye: T. Rowe Price.
This mutual fund firm, which I know well, isn’t exactly a run-and-gun investment house. These folks play long term and tout planning for the long run.
Simply put, when T. Rowe Price plunks down a big chunk of change on Twitter of all things I take note. The mutual fund giant’s involvement prompts a few thoughts:
- Either Twitter is really a long-term play;
- T. Rowe Price just wants to be among the first in line for an IPO allocation for its funds;
- Or T. Rowe Price is simply out of its mind.
We’ll find out whether the grand Twitter bet pays, but there’s an interesting compare and contrast with a company that has no meaningful revenue and the T. Rowe Price mission.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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