Twitter has finalized a deal to buy TweetDeck, CNN reported this morning.
The microblogging site reportedly reached an agreement to buy the popular Twitter client for more than US$40 million in cash and stocks, according to CNN.com .
Neither TweetDeck nor Twitter replied to a request for comment, but Twitter’s PR people tweeted Monday night, “For all those who might be curious, we continue to not comment on rumors.”
There has been a lot of speculation in recent months about TweetDeck’s future and who might be vying to buy it.
Just last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter was in advanced talks to acquire TweetDeck. Another company, UberMedia, had also reportedly been working out a deal to buy TweetDeck.
The budding rivalry between Twitter and UberMedia, which owns several popular Twitter applications, seems to be heating up.
The two companies clashed in February when Twitter suspended UberMedia’s three major third-party mobile applications — UberSocial, Twidroyd and UberCurrents — from use on its site for allegedly violating its use policies. Twitter reinstated access to the apps a day later.
Last month, CNN.com reported that UberMedia is in the process of creating its own microblogging service that would compete directly with Twitter.
For months, industry experts said UberMedia was looking to buy TweetDeck, which competes directly with Twitter’s Web and mobile clients. Having TweetDeck on board would help UberMedia build up its own microblogging service – one with TweetDeck features that users already have grown attached to.