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Twitter’s value doubles to $7 bn since December
MUMBAI: Microblogging site Twitter Inc is said to be raising funding that values it at about $7 billion. In this connection, the San Francisco-based company is believed to be in talks with investors to receive hundreds of millions of dollars.
Twitter‘s worth has almost doubled since December last when it received a $200 million investment led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers that valued the company at $3.7 billion.
The valuation of Twitter Inc was pegged at about $1 billion in 2009 whereas the company’s current worth was $6.8 billion.
Instead of joining other social-media companies in filing for an initial public offering, Twitter is raising funds from private investors.
In June, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone had announced that he‘s stepping away from day-to-day duties at the company to join Evan Williams, another co-founder, in a new venture.
Soon after LinkedIn Corp, a professional networking site, went public in May, Groupon Inc, the biggest daily-deal site, as well as Zynga Inc, the top developer of Facebook games, have both filed for IPOs.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
