TechCrunch claims that Google is in advanced negotiations to acquire Twitter. TechCrunch said that the asking price is more than the $250m (£170m) valuation that Twitter’s recent round of funding would suggest.

Twitter has recently reworked its search feature, prompting many to think that this makes the firm more appealing to potential suitors. Search facilities have been added to the ‘tweet’ pages, and users can search tweets from this view. Twitter claims that the new additions were planned from the start.

Such features would have obvious benefits for marketing and advertising purposes.

“Twitter Search is an engine for discovering what is happening right now,” said Twitter co-founder Biz Stone in a blog post.

Stone and co-founder Evan Williams have already sold Blogger.com to Google, and TechCrunch guesses that any deal would involve a straight cash or stock transaction.

Tags: biz stone, evan williams, google, google purchase twitter, twitter, twitter sold