The pornography mega site PornHub has propositioned Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), offering to buy Vine. It is understood that the pornography website plans to showcase videos on Vine. This comes after Twitter announced plans to shut down the micro-video platform. The offer by PornHub is, however, being viewed as a joke.
In making the offer, the vice president of PornHub, Corey Prince, said that a six-second window would be adequate for users to enjoy pornography.
“We figure since Twitter has dropped (Vine) and it is undergoing significant layoffs, that you and your stakeholders could benefit from a cash infusion from the sale of Vine,” a letter from PornHub to Twitter states.
Access allowed but not uploading
PornHub’s offer comes after Twitter recently disclosed that it would be shutting down Vine. 9% of Vine’s employees would also be laid off. This was despite the fact that the third quarter reports showed that the user numbers of Vine have increased. While users of Vine will still be allowed to download and access Vine, uploading of new clips won’t be allowed.
Twitter has recently been facing various challenges including slowing growth and several high-level executive departures. The most recent one has been that of its Great China managing director, Kathy Chen. She was based in Hong Kong and even she was controversial, she was instrumental in growing the advertiser base in China. Even though Twitter is blocked in the world’s most populous country, the microblogging platform has formed partnerships with Chinese advertisers targeting an international audience. Chen had been in office for about eight months prior to her departure.
Executives scampering for the exit
Other high-level executive departures from Twitter have included Adam Messinger who was the firm’s former chief technology officer; Adam Bain, the company’s former chief operating officer and Josh McFarland, the former vice president of product.
Twitter acquired the micro-video platform in 2012 for approximately $30 million. Vine is credited as being the pioneer of social media’s short-form style of video which was later cloned by Instagram and Snapchat.
In Friday’s trading session, Twitter Inc fell by 0.55% to close the day at$16.30 a share.
