Google, Yahoo, Twitter Have Had Talks to Buy Flipboard

By Yoree Koh And Douglas MacMillan 

Several Internet giants have inquired about buying Flipboard Inc., maker of a newsreader app that has recently signaled it is open to acquisition discussions, according to people familiar with the matter.

In recent weeks, Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have both reached out and held early discussions with Flipboard, three of the people said. Those talks have involved ideas around how products could be integrated, but they haven't evolved to a price, the people said.

Talks with Twitter Inc. went further, discussing a deal price of about $1 billion, these people said. But those negotiations, which began months ago, have largely stalled since April. Technology news site Recode earlier reported news of the Twitter talks.

Flipboard aggregates stories from various publishers as well as users' social networking circles, enabling users to curate their own news-reading experience into a digital magazine. The startup, founded in late 2010, said it had 65 million monthly active users in May, up from 50 million in February.

Write to Yoree Koh at [e-mail] and Douglas MacMillan at [e-mail]

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