Twitter may sell Vine instead of shutting it down

Twitter’s decision to kill its video streaming service Vine received criticism from several quarters. Well, now it seems like, the company has reconsidered its decision and would instead sell its looping video service instead.

According to a TechCrunch report, when Twitter announced that it is killing Vine, it was inundated with a large number of bids offering to buy Vine including Japanese messaging and gaming company LINE.

Though, apparently, the bids aren’t too great, some even less than $10 million but it could still be better than not selling it at all. The other plus point would be Vine revival that preserves Twitter integration with more users and ad revenue.

Twitter is obviously not commenting on the reports because no deal has been finalized as yet and there are chances that no sale happens at all. Though selling Vine may look a good option on the surface, it has pitfalls too.

Selling Vine for a low price would be detrimental to Twitter’s image. Secondly, if the new owner turns it into a big success and uses it to compete with Twitter, Twitter’s capability could be questioned. The fact is that whatever the acquirer does with Vine will directly reflect on and affect Twitter’s image.

But despite all the risks involved, letting Vine thrive under a new owner still looks better compared to the financial cost of maintaining it or shutting it down completely.