MICROBLOGGING WEBSITE TWITTER is completing another round of fundraising. which values the site at an astonishing $8 billion (€5.6bn).

The New York Times’ Dealbook blog said the company was in the process of raising $400m from a syndicate of investors led by DST Global, a vehicle headed by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner.

It reported that the investment, which is being delivered in two tranches, is being invested in exchange for a five per cent stake in the company – valuing the firm at $8 billion.

That valuation, which had not been confirmed by Twitter itself, would give the site a valuation over 175 times larger than its revenues for last year, when the site took in a mere $45m in advertising revenue.

The site has notoriously struggled to monetise its prevalence, popularity and growing user base, though internal projections have the site reaching $111m in net earnings, based on $1.5bn of earnings, by 2013 – the same year the site is expected to file for an Initial Public Offering.

The site has yet to turn a profit in its five-year existence.

Read more on the investment in the New York Times >