Twitter has acquired TweetDeck for around $40 to $50 million and an announcement could be made very soon, according to a report in TechCrunch.
Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter was in "advance talks" to buy TweetDeck for roughly $50 million. Now sources are saying a deal has been reached.
TweetDeck produces an Adobe-Air-based application that allows users to organize all their social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. It has a desktop client as well as apps for iOS and Android.
However, before Twitter showed interest in TweetDeck, it appeared that UberMedia would buy the company for $25 to $30 million. UberMedia had a 30-day exclusive on the negotiations, but they took too long, and Twitter jumped in with a higher offer.
These reports have trickled in just after Twitter changed its policy, placing a moratorium on third-party apps. Apps like Foursquare or Instagram are still free to integrate Twitter into their services, but Twitter no longer freely allows companies to produce their own clients for the service.
The company's official stance is that it wants to provide users with a consistent experience, but perhaps Twitter wants to be the sole producer of its apps. That would give Twitter full control of a space, which would be key if and when Twitter decides to monetize the service, possibly through an advertising platform.
TweetDeck would not be the first third-party app developer that Twitter has acquired. Twitter bought iPhone client Tweetie and started making its own "official" apps last spring.
TweetDeck is the most popular Twitter client not made by Twitter itself, so if Twitter does in fact buy TweetDeck, it will have further control of the space.