All companies have suppliers and partners, including Twitter. Getting a reputation for this kind of toxic behaviour harms their ability to build relationships with them, as nobody will feel they can trust them.

It could also hamper their ability to make further acquisitions. In future, a startup being linked with a possible Twitter acquisition is going to cause its customers to panic and start moving elsewhere. That'll make startups more reluctant to engage, and may turn some off entirely, if they're not comfortable with the prospect of totally screwing over the customers who've supported them during their early stages.