Does anyone want to buy Twitter?
The company wants to make a decision by the end of the month, but the list of potential buyers is getting shorter.
At the end of September, the list of reported potential suitors for Twitter included Apple, Disney, Google and Salesforce. Based on new reports from Recode and CNBC, it sounds like none of those companies are interested in buying the social network at this point. Recode's sources indicated this week that Google wasn't preparing to make a bid and that Apple wasn't likely to do so either. It followed that up with a report that Disney, after exploring a potential proposal, wouldn't move forward with an official offer. Twitter's shareholders surely aren't happy about those big names withdrawing interest as the company's stock fell 9 percent yesterday.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff downplayed his company's interest in Twitter during an interview with CNBC yesterday as well. The chief executive said that while he considers a lot of potential acquisitions, he ultimately decides to pass on most of them. Benioff didn't comment specifically on Twitter, but noted that "it's in our interest to look at everything."
According to Reuters, Twitter wants to wrap the sale process by October 27th, the day it's scheduled to announce its Q3 earnings. That news follows a Bloomberg article that detailed the internal battle at Twitter over the potential sale, including that CEO Jack Dorsey is reportedly holding up the process because he wants the company to remain independent. Twitter does have some untapped potential on top of its social network and newly cemented live video push, but it looks like getting a deal done before the end of the month may be a lot harder than it seemed just a week ago.
