Twitter Inc., an American social network company, has reportedly acquired Revue, a newsletter publishing startup, for an undisclosed sum. The deal has been inked with an objective to drive the company’s business as well as provide more features to the writers who share their work on this media platform.
Following this takeover deal, Revue’s service, which allows users to manage newsletter subscriptions and publishing, will continue to operate as a standalone service, Twitter has claimed. Furthermore, it will reduce the service’s fees to encourage more users to create newsletters, as well as take a cut of 5% on the subscription revenue collected via Revue.
In addition, the latest deal will enable Revue to assist Twitter in expanding its business apart from advertising, which generates above 85% of its annual revenue, as well as ensuring the generation of more money by its popular users from their followers. People with knowledge of the matter have reportedly cited that the social media company is expected to focus on developing new ways to continuously provide support to areas like audience-based monetization. The company is also reportedly considering options for a subscription service of its own.
In recent years, email newsletters, a form of web publication, have made a comeback as the traditional media companies and startups have started embracing the format. For example, Substack is an online platform for independent writers that send newsletters to paid or free subscribers. A notable group of writers using the service include former editors Andrew Sullivan and Matthew Taibbi for the New Republic and Rolling Stone respectively.
With this acquisition, the six-person team of Revue based in Utrecht, Netherlands is joining Twitter to expand the unit. In addition to this deal, the social media company has entered several other acquisition agreements in the past, primarily in small-sized startups. For instance, the company, since early December, has purchased Squad, a social video app; Breaker, a podcast company; and Ueno, a 50-person design firm.
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