As the company’s S-1 stated last year, the data licensing business only brought in about a tenth of what Twitter’s overall revenue is ($70 million on revenues of $665 million total). So it’s not a giant moneymaker by any means. But owning the company could mean growing that business over time.

Last but not least, it’s a nice way to pick up a team of sixty-plus talented engineers schooled in the ways of Twitter and big data.

More the later than the former. An inexpensive way to pick up some very good data scientists and engineers who are used to working at massive scale.