Twitter dismisses reports of Google interest

Reports that Google has held takeover talks with Twitter that value the microblogging site at as much as US$10 billion are "just a rumor," Chief Executive Dick Costolo said.

Asked at the Mobile World Congress fair in Barcelona whether Google could afford a US$10 billion acquisition, Costolo replied: "I don't know where these things come from. It's just a rumor."

He declined comment on a follow-up question on Facebook, which has also been reported to have held low-level takeover talks with Twitter.

Twitter, which had 175 million users as of September, raised US$200 million in a December financing round that valued it at US$3.7 billion.