After seemingly protracted negotiations, Tweetdeck, which enables users to manage a number of social media websites with one application, announced through Twitter and blog posts that a deal had been completed this week.

The London-based start-up, founded in 2008, helps people read, write and organise the short messages posted on the online network, while also managing Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media accounts.

Financial details were not disclosed, but reports put the sale amount at between $40 and $50 million. Rumours have been circulating since the start of the year about the sale of Tweetdeck. It had been linked earlier this year with Bill Gross’ company Uber Media.

In an official Tweetdeck blogpost, Dodsworth writes: ‘The past three years have been an epic journey, with many highs and lows, accompanied by the constant thrill of never really knowing what to expect next.

‘We’ve grown from one team member and a single user, to a team of fifteen and a user-base of millions. The reason for this growth is simple – our unwavering focus on providing high-quality tools and services for the Twitter-centric power-user. This has always been our core audience – the most active, influential and valuable users of Twitter and social media in general. Quality over quantity.

‘It is precisely for this reason that Twitter has acquired TweetDeck. The mainstream Twitter user-base is well catered for by twitter.com and the official mobile clients. And by becoming part of the official platform, TweetDeck will now fill that role for brands, influencers, the highly active and anyone that just needs “more power”.

‘Change may well be inevitable, but we remain the same team, staying in London, with the same focus and products, and now with the support and resources to allow us to grow and take on even bigger challenges.’