Twitter CFO Accidentally Tweets M&A Strategy

Twitter CFO Anthony Noto proved to the world last night that he himself uses the social network he helps run -- arguably a little too liberally. Noto accidentally blasted out to his 9,000 followers Monday night what appeared to be intended as a direct message for a colleague. In it, he references an upcoming meeting in mid-December with what is likely an anonymous executive of an app or company that he says Twitter should consider as an acquisition target. He concedes a deal could be a tough sell. "I still think we should buy them. He is on your schedule for Dec 15 or 16 -- we still need to sell him. I have a plan," he said in the tweet. He deleted it quickly afterward. It's unclear whom the tweet was intended for. A former Goldman Sachs banker, Noto was hired by Twitter in July to replace CFO Mike Gupta, who shifted into the role of senior vice president of strategic investments. It's unclear what firm Twitter might be looking to buy, but the media have long speculated on that matter as Twitter pursues expansion, and Re/code published a shortlist of potential targets on Tuesday that included the selfie app Shots, anonymous app Secret and photo- and video-sharing app Storehouse. Shares of Twitter were up 0.5% to $40.39 in premarket trading.