Rumor has it that Twitter will be sold soon to the highest bidder. Difficulties to attract new users has left the social media site with a stagnant user base of about three hundred million people, which has begun to damage the site’s advertiser demand.
Twitter might have had a strong start, but the site has experienced difficulties in the long run. The giant Facebook, along with that company’s squadron of social media sites and services such as the ever-popular Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger have not only loyal users but also a growing user base that has allowed it to remain profitable.
Even Snapchat, with just five years since founded, has managed to outpace Twitter in this regard. This situation has led to the company to question whenever or not it is feasible to remain independent, or if it would be best to be taken over by a larger entity.
According to unidentified people close to the company, Twitter has held various — currently informal — talks with other entities that may be interested in buying the stagnating social network. However, it is not an assurance that a takeover will happen.
These talks supposedly began after Salesforce.com, a company focused on businesses, offering enterprise technology, gave Twitter their interest, say the sources. However, Twitter is looking for other potential buyers to get the best deal possible.
The company Salesforce has previously expressed interest in owning a social network. They had already tried to get their hands on LinkedIn, a social network oriented in business, before losing to Microsoft, who acquired LinkedIn for the extraordinary sum of 26.2 billion dollars back in June 2016.
According to rumors, Twitter has hired the investment banks Goldman Sachs and Allen & Company to solicit other buyers besides Salesforce, who did not make a formal offer yet.
Weighing the alternatives
Besides a total takeover, of which some people inside Twitter are less than enthused about, the company is looking into options-
For example, the company might sell some of their divisions such as Vine and MoPub, to remain independent. They are also considering a revamp of the service.
Twitter, in spite of its troubles, remains an attractive buy because of the data, user base and influence it has had on politics, media, and culture.
The company has been trying in the last two years to turn itself around. In particular, chief executive Jack Dorsey had promised to make the service more user-friendly and giving emphasis to its real-time elements.
This led to Twitter signing deals to stream important events in real-time, and just last month it unveiled an app to make this streaming option available to a wider audience. However, there is skepticism that this will work for the stagnation it is currently facing.
Possible suitors
Google is often speculated to be the one who would acquire Twitter, because of its aspirations towards being the largest data provider, along with their sheer size and digital portfolio.
In particular, social networks have data that tends to be out of Google’s reach. The massive data company has collaborated with Twitter in the past to better integrate its DoubleClick advertising service in the social network and shows recent tweets in the results of its search engine.
Source: The New York Times