Earlier today, news surfaced that Google and Salesforce and “other technology companies” were interested in buying Twitter. Now, another publication, this time TechCrunch, is reporting that both Google and Salesforce.com are interested (adding credibility to the original report), but they have added Verizon and Microsoft’s name to the pot. Microsoft is the puzzling name in this group. But according to this report, Microsoft is bidding to keep the price high and out of Salesforce’s hands. However, Salesforce only has about half of the market cap of Twitter in cash reserves. So if Salesforce is the suitor, they would need to raise money to be able to purchase the social media company.
Verizon’s name isn’t too surprising. After all they’ve turned into a media company in the past couple of years. Purchasing AOL and they are currently in the process of purchasing Yahoo. Twitter likely wouldn’t be a big part of Go90, seeing as they do very little streaming video currently. Only having started in the past couple of weeks with the NFL’s Thursday Night Football streaming on the network. In addition to that, they are also streaming the presidential debates, with the first one taking place this coming Monday.
Google, Salesforce, Verizon and Microsoft are all interested in Twitter. But they likely aren’t the only ones interested. Many may wonder why they are interested in buying the microblogging platform, and the big reason is data. Twitter has a ton of data, and it’s getting more every single day. It’s a great platform for any company looking to get into media, and it’s an aspect that Twitter has been taking advantage of with many new features. The biggest one being Moments. Which allows users to keep up with what’s going on in the world. From breaking news, to politics, to sports and everything in between.
As reported earlier, there’s nothing official about Twitter even being up for sale. So it’s important that we take this all with a grain of salt. But this isn’t the first time rumors of a Twitter buyout have appeared. Google and Verizon have been thrown in there plenty of times already. Those familiar with the matter have said that talks about a buyout have gained momentum recently, and they believe that a deal may be in place before the end of the year.