Lots of negative chatter after the leak. But the opinions of the talking heads are quite irrelevant. Anthony Noto knows markets.
Today's leak was a feeler into market opinion. Judging by the market reaction, it didn't really care about the deal. (Although twtr acted far better than the rest of the market.)
I am a fan of this deal. A billion for this deal maybe a bit much but I really like the potential that Flipboard can offer.
Right now Flipboard is a magazine designed for consumption. It's a good tool for those who don't like the complexity of Twitter. In the context of a digital magazine, Flipboard may not be worth $1B. (I mean Yahoo is the ultimate in user eyeballs, yet the market has negative value on the "magazine" potential.)
But what if we looked at Flipboard differently. What if Flipboard is viewed as a potential on-boarding to Twitter. (A Pinterest like version of Twitter for the millions of people that use Twitter as a media consumption / communication medium, and not a broadcast medium.) in this context, and assuming Twitter management (and team) has the vision, the deal is very much worth $1B.
twtr is still in the shitter, but this deal is not about "doing something". The potential for Flipboard is obvious. And the team they hire have the ability to do the job.