Did Twitter Acquire TweetDeck for $40M?

The seemingly indefatigable Twitter/TweetDeck rumor mill has begun its familiar grind once again.

This time, CNN has reported that the third-party Twitter client TweetDeck has officially been nabbed by Twitter to the tune of $40 million.

We’ve heard no official word on whether or not this report is true; given the history of the Twitter/TweetDeck acquisition story, we’d be hard pressed to say, ourselves, if the deal has actually been signed and sealed.

Last time this rumor came up, TechCrunch was reporting the deal would be announced within the week. That was about three weeks ago.

The Twitter/TweetDeck acquisition rumor began in mid-April with a Wall Street Journal report that pinned the sale amount at $50 million.

Twitter hasn’t yet made any official comment on the report. In the past, Twitter’s official response to the acquisition rumors has been, “We don’t comment on rumors. We don’t provide off-the-record background on rumors. We don’t wink twice or release puffs of smoke about rumors.”

The relationship between TweetDeck and Twitter has been tense of late. Around 40% of tweets come fromthird-party apps, and TweetDeck is a leader in the third-party category.

And Twitter itself has been giving devs none-too-subtle hints that it doesn’t want its API being used for pure-play Twitter clients anymore.

We’ll continue to update you on this story as details become available.