Twitter Buys London-Based TweetDeck For £25m

London-based application company TweetDeck has been sold to micro-blogging site Twitter in a £25m deal.

The internet tool, which describes itself as a "personal browser" that allows people to "tweet like a pro", was created by 36-year-old Iain Dodsworth.

The man, who is reportedly set to become a millionaire following the sale of his Old Street-based company, announced on his website: "I am extremely happy and proud to let you know that TweetDeck has been acquired by Twitter."

He added: "We completed the deal on Tuesday and are now in the process of 'joining the flock'."

Twitter's communications department has not commented on the purchase.

The San Francisco company only tweeted a short message on Tuesday saying: "For all those who might be curious, we continue to not comment on rumours."

TweetDeck allows users to view and manage their updates and connect their Twitter accounts with other social networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Foursquare.

Rumours about the sale of TweetDeck, which was founded three years ago, started in mid-April.

But Mr Dodsworth and Twitter officials would not confirm the sale.

He suggested on Twitter earlier this week he had been inundanted by calls from the press.

In a tweet on Tuesday, he said: "An impressive number of people seem to have my mobile number and like to ring it at 4am."