Last month, Twitter announced its plans to shut down its short video application called Vine. The company is currently examining bids from multiple companies, and deciding who deserves to take over running the app.
The news that Twitter was killing Vine left many users saddened. But the grief was silenced after the company revealed that it was in talks with some potential buyers. TechCrunch reported that the pool of interested buyers was narrowed down from 10 to 5. There are rumors that the Japanese messaging and gaming company LINE was included on the list of potential buyers.
The same source also reported that Twitter received offers as low as $10 million, which means that the company might not make substantial revenue from directly selling Vine. But, because Vine content automatically plays in the Twitter stream, it could still bolster user engagement for its parent company by attracting latent users with videos.
Along with the announcement of its plans to shut down Vine, Twitter executives also revealed via The New York Times that the app was costing the company about $10 million a month. While selling the app was initially off the table, the company, later on, thought that the arrangement might work. Despite losing some users, many apparently still use the app.
Twitter could still generate income from sponsored content deals through Niche (the social media talent that the company acquired around 2015). If Vine creators continue making videos, there is a high chance for Twitter ads to be bought by brands that pay the creators to promote their products.