"We should really take the deal," Jack said sarcastically as they all laughed.

The comical tone was interrupted as Ev told them what Bradley had said on the phone: that he believed Yahoo! could easily build the technology behind Twitter, that it was "simply just a messaging service" and "a few engineers could do the same thing in a week." He had concluded that if Twitter didn't sell, Yahoo! planned to build and release a competitor.

It was a typical relationship offering in the Valley: Either you fuck us, or we'll fuck you.