Salesforce and others take look, get shareholder feedback, then apparently shy away from pulling the trigger on a bid. That leaves things up in the air, at least for now.
The race to buy Twitter has gone from a sprint, to a marathon, to… a retreat, as the companies expected to be interested in the online social networking service have backed away. The last company standing, Salesforce, faced extreme shareholder backlash over its interest in Twitter, and so was reportedly no longer in the running.
Google parent Alphabet and the Walt Disney Co. are also, apparently, uninterested, as well.
The bad sales news has led to Twitter stock getting hammered in pre-market trading, down over 13 percent.
If Twitter cannot find a buyer what comes next. Twitter has been expanding its live video programming, which has been an interesting development, but the issue of monetization certainly remains an issue. That is why some believed Google or Facebook would make an interesting buyer.
But I would not completely rule out a sale just yet. None of the suspected buyers have decided to make a bid now, but that doesn’t rule out a bid at a more acceptable price. Yes, Twitter is not generating tons of revenue, and certainly not profits, but there remains plenty of media companies out there who would love Twitter’s audience reach.