Twitter Held Talks To Buy Justin Bieber-Backed Selfie App Shots: Report
Twitter has been in talks with Shots, the selfie app that is part financially backed by Justin Bieber.
On Monday, November 26, speculation spiked over Twitter’s acquisition plans after CFO Anthony Noto accidentally tweeted a message about making plans to buy a company. He quickly deleted the tweet, but screengrabs were made.
Looks like Twitter’s CFO just had the first-ever M&A DM fail. pic.twitter.com/AuLxVOBJED
— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) November 24, 2014
Noto’s message, which is thought to have been a failed direct message send, read, “I think we should buy them. He is on your schedule for Dec 15 or 16 — we will need to sell him. i have a plan.”
Twitter, a social networking site, is, like all networking businesses looking to increase its users and their engagement.
On Tuesday, CNBC reported that Twitter is attracted to Shots’ user demographic base. The so-far selfie-only app has over 3 million users, with nearly two-thirds of them young women under 24.
Source: Twitter is in talks to acquire Shots, the selfie app backed by Justin Bieber – @CNBC http://t.co/GfogpSfJkZ
— Breaking News Tech (@breakingbytes) November 25, 2014
It’s thought many female Shots users joined the app because of Bieber’s connection.
The app, which was originally called Shots of Me, is available in Apple’s App Store.
It was created by RockLive co-founders — the software entrepreneur John Shahidi and his brother Sam — and is partly funded by Justin Bieber.
Along with Bieber, other investors in Shots include venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar, the boxer Floyd Mayweather, and investor Tom McInerney.
Technology website Recode reports, “Shots co-founders John and Sam Shahidi have had multiple meetings at Twitter [HQ] over the past month, according to people familiar with the discussions.”
John Shahidi told TechCrunch at the app’s launch last Fall that online users prefer looking at other people rather than pictures of sunsets and meals, which are often found on other photo sharing platforms such as Instagram.
The Shots allows users to see a feed of selfies from their friends and Twitter contacts that includes locations, names, captions, and the number of “likes” a snap attracts.
In place of comments capability, Shots has a direct messaging system that allows users to exchange messages.
Shahidi previously said Justin was frustrated by other photo-sharing platforms that allowed hate comments and homophobic slurs to be posted, and trolling that can result.
To TechCrunch, he recalled, “The commenting thing was something he really cared about. Not just for himself, but for the kids.
“He [Bieber] said: ‘I want a platform where my fans don’t have to deal with this.'”
Shahidi added, “We didn’t ask him for money. He said ‘I want to be part of this.'”
Mail Online reports Shots had raised just over one-and-a-half million dollars, but Bieber contributed most of the $1.1 million in a second round of investment.
The “Confident” singer is known to have invested in a slew of other startups.
