Apple Officials Said to Consider Stake in Twitter

, which has stumbled in its efforts to get into social media, has talked with in recent months about making a strategic investment in it, according to people briefed on the matter.

While Apple has been hugely successful in selling phones and tablets, it has little traction in social networking, which has become a major engine of activity on the Web and on mobile devices. Social media are increasingly influencing how people spend their time and money - an important consideration for Apple, which also sells applications, games, music and movies.

Apple has considered an investment in the hundreds of millions of dollars, one that could value Twitter at more than $10 billion, up from an $8.4 billion valuation last year, these people said. They declined to be named because the discussions were private.

There is no guarantee that the two companies, which are not in negotiations at the moment, will come to an agreement. But the earlier talks are a sign that they may form a stronger partnership amid intensifying competition from the likes of Google and .

Apple has not made many friends in social media. Its relationship with Facebook, for example, has been strained since a deal to build Facebook features into Ping, Apple's music-centric social network, fell apart. Facebook is also aligned with Microsoft, which owns a small stake in it. And Google, an Apple rival in the phone market, has been pushing its own social network, Google Plus.

“Apple doesn't have to own a social network,” Timothy D. Cook, Apple's chief executive, said at a recent technology conference. “But does Apple need to be social? Yes.”

Twitter and Apple have already been working together. Recently, Apple has tightly sewn Twitter features into its software for phones, tablets and computers, while, behind the scenes, Twitter has put more resources into managing its relationship with Apple.

Though an investment in Twitter would not be a big financial move for Apple by any stretch - it has $117 billion in liquid investments, and it quietly agreed to buy a mobile security company for $356 million on Friday - it would be one of Mr. Cook's most important strategic decisions as chief executive. And it would be an uncommon arrangement for Apple, which tends to buy small start-ups that are then absorbed into the company.

But such a deal would give Apple more access to Twitter's deep understanding of the social Web, and pave the way for closer Twitter integration into Apple's products.

Twitter has grown quickly, amassing more than 140 million monthly active users who generate a vast stream of short messages about their lives, the news and everything else. An Apple investment would give it the glow of a close relationship with a technology icon, and would instantly bolster its valuation, which, like that of other start-ups, has languished in the wake of Facebook's lackluster market debut. In fact, word of the talks comes at a time when some are asking whether expectations for the potential of social media companies have gotten out of hand, and shares of Facebook, Zynga and other companies have wilted.

But Twitter does not need Apple's cash. Earlier this year, Dick Costolo, Twitter's chief executive, said the company had “truckloads of money in the bank.”

The truckloads, according to people familiar with the matter, add up to more than $600 million in cash on hand. This comes from the $1 billion in financing it has raised over the years and, more recently, from a healthy flow of advertising revenue.

Regardless, Twitter is widely expected to pursue a public offering within the next couple of years, whether or not it agrees to deals with investors like Apple.

Apple and Twitter are logical partners in some ways. Unlike Facebook or Google, Twitter has no plans to compete with Apple in the phone business or elsewhere. And as Apple has found, social is just not in its DNA.

“Those guys are a great partner,” Mr. Costolo said of Apple in a recent interview. “We think of them as a company that our company looks up to.” Mr. Costolo would not discuss any potential investments or anything else related to the company's relationship with Apple.

Spokesmen for both Apple and Twitter said on Friday that their companies did not comment on rumors.

Protesting Coup at Duke Energy, 2 Board Members Step Down

Two former Progress Energy directors resigned in protest from the Duke Energy board on Friday and said the company needed a new chief executive to restore confidence among investors and regulators after a boardroom coup this month.

The board members, John D. Baker II and Theresa M. Stone, had each been legacy members from Progress, which completed its $32 billion merger with Duke on July 2, the day that the new board abruptly voted along party lines to oust the former Progress chief, William D. Johnson, as head of the combined company.

Under the deal, James Rogers, the chief of Duke, was to be executive chairman. But Mr. Johnson's tenure lasted only a few hours and Mr. Rogers was announced as the new chief, spawning regulatory investigations and uncertainty on Wall Street.

The merger created the country's largest utility, with more than seven million customers across six states, but it has made the new company much more dependent on its regulated business es, leading to concern that the bad publicity and disruption to its leadership could harm its position in rate cases.

Standard & Poor's downgraded the company this week and said its “abrupt leadership changes” had “heightened regulatory risk.”

In her letter to Mr. Rogers and Duke's lead director, Ann Gray, Ms. Stone, who retired last year as executive vice president and treasurer at M.I.T., said the board's coup and maneuvering left her deeply disappointed in Duke's corporate governance.

“One step that would, in my view, go a long way to addressing the firestorm of concerns which have resulted from the actions of July 2 would be the immediate announcement of a well-designed formal C.E.O. search process,” she wrote.

Mr. Baker, the executive chairman of Patriot Transportation Holdings, separately wrote that the board should move quickly to replace Mr. Rogers.

The North Carolina Utilities Commission has been investigating the shake-up, holding hearings where Mr. Rogers and Ms. Gray have described Mr. Johnson's shortcomings in oversight, and Mr. Johnson in turn has said he was pushed out because Duke changed its mind on the merger and wanted to call off the deal.

North Carolina is the largest customer base for the merged company, and the deal will also mean the loss of a corporate headquarters and as many as 1,000 jobs from Raleigh, the state's capital and Progress' former home. Duke is based in Charlotte, N.C.

In a statement, Duke said that it accepted the resignations of Mr. Baker and Ms. Stone and that the board's corporate governance committee would make a recommendation on these vacancies.

When the merger was completed, the combined company's 18-member board had 11 directors from Duke and 7 from Progress. With Mr. Johnson's removal and the resignations, it is now 11 to 4.

Robert Gruber, the executive director of the public staff of the utilities commission, said in an interview that Duke's board should consider appointing an intermediate chief while it seeks a replacement for Mr. Rogers.

He noted that the next year would be critical for the company, because that was when most of its merger integration would take place and when it was likely to be asking for rate increases from customers to pay for new plants.

The commission itself has not made a recommendation about any change of leadership and its investigation is continuing. While it is unlikely that the commission would rescind its approval of the merger, it could recommend penalties as part of a settlement.

C. Dukes Scott, Mr. Gruber's counterpart in South Carolina, said in an interview that the company's problems could no longer be confined to one state. “As they talk settlement in North Carolina, that becomes of interest to us, because we want to make sure that whatever settlement they work out is not of adverse interest to us,” he said.

Separately, Duke announced Friday that it would close two coal power plants, one in North Carolina and one in South Carolina.