Twitter Inc. shares went down after noticing that the company’s buyout has drawn minimal interest from big corporations. Google and Apple are not interested in buying the social media, and its only safe buyer, Salesforce, said Thursday some comments that suggest the company is not that interested in Twitter after all.
The interactive blog, Twitter, has been having troubles to increase its traffic and stop its permanent losses. Those reasons lead Twitter’s board to agreed last month to consider selling the social media. The company wants to conclude negotiations with a potential buyer on October 27 when Twitter reports its third-quarter earnings.
Walt Disney Co. and Google were believed to be interested in bidding for Twitter, but on Wednesday, it was confirmed that neither the search engine giant nor Walt Disney is going to make a move to buy the 140-character social media yet, Recode reported.
Walt Disney has hired an advisor to make a bid on Twitter, but it has not confirmed its intentions.
Twitter shares went up after the company announced it was considering a sale. The price went up mostly because of speculations of which other enterprises were going to buy it. Twitter shares went from $14 to $20 after the announcement, but now that Google and Disney have shown no interest, the shares went from $20.83 to $19.87.
Salesforce is Twitter only hope, apparently, because Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com CEO, showed great interests in acquiring the tweeting company. Although he recently did not show as much enthusiasm as before.
Marc Benioff and his comments set off the bidding process to get Twitter Tuesday. He said the social media was an “unpolished jewel” with potential in advertising, e-commerce and other data-rich applications he considers profitable. Salesforce is dedicated to the cloud-software business and buying Twitter could be the next phase of growth.
But Benioff comments to The New York Times and the CNBC Wednesday might suggest he changed his mind regarding Twitter. Salesforce shares fell after its CEO started insinuating he was considering buying Twitter.
“We have to go deep on everything to understand what is possible for our shareholders and what isn’t. But in the scheme of things, if you look back at my track record as a CEO I think you’ll find I look at a lot of things, [but] I actually pass on most things,” stated Benioff to the CNBC.
Internal troubles might be leading Twitter’s sellout
Apparently, there is an internal battle within Twitter regarding the future of the company. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wants the social media to stay independent while co-founder Ev Williams wants to sell. But there is a third person in the discussion: Anthony Noto, Twitter’s financial officer, who is the one backing the sale of the company.
Dorsey argued that Twitter has room for growth as an argument to make the company stay independent. He said there is more regarding strength, service, and business in the company to be developed. Dorsey continued and stated Twitter is focusing on what needs to be fixed and, according to the CEO, they are seeing signs that indicate they are going in the right direction.
Venture capitalist Chris Sacca, an early investor in Twitter, said the company should be sold.
Source: International Business Times