E-Paper
Twitter wants to sell but suitors drop out
NEW YORK: Twitter Inc has told potential acquirers it is seeking to conclude negotiations about selling itself by the time it reports third-quarter earnings on October
NEW YORK: Twitter Inc has told potential acquirers it is seeking to conclude negotiations about selling itself by the time it reports third-quarter earnings on October 27, according to people familiar with the matter.
The timeline is hugely ambitious in the context of most mergers and acquisitions, given that Twitter began mulling a sale only last month. It is the clearest sign yet that chief executive Jack Dorsey is pushing to provide clarity to shareholders and employees over the company’s future as quickly as possible.
But news of possible suit ors not moving forward with a bid took a heavy toll on Twitter’s shares, which tanked over 9% in afterhour trading after Recode reported that Google may not be interested in buying the microblogging website.
Twitter had whittled down the field of potential acquirers to Salesforce.com Inc, Alphabet Inc and Walt Disney, the people added. Later reports on Recode, citing unnamed sources, ruled out Walt Disney and Apple from the race too, leaving only Salesforce.com.
Twitter and Salesforce declined to comment. Disney and Google did not return requests for comment.
With Salesforce.com, Twitter might turn its focus to customer service communications and mining its database of tweets for business intelligence.
Twitter has told potential buyers it wants to conclude negotiations about selling itself by the time it reports third-quarter earningson October 27, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. It is not certain the process will result in a sale, the Reuters sources cautioned.The sources asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential.
Twitter’s stock was last down 9.21% in after-hours trade at $22.58. It went public in November 2013 at $26 a share and shares peaked above $74 just over a month after its IPO.
