Twitter is in trouble. There is no skirting that news, or the news that it is most likely being sold, despite internal strife over the issue between the company’s big wigs. Twitter’s user growth and identity issues have been a big enough thorn in its side to make investors happy to hear of the possibility of a sale. Those same investors, however, were not too happy to hear that one of the most likely buyers, Google, is officially out of the picture. According to insider reports, Google does not plan to submit a bid for Twitter. Their recent hire of an investment banker was, in fact, on a more permanent basis; this person will be overseeing just about every buy and sell deal that Google makes for the foreseeable future.
After initial reports hit the internet, investors backed off of Twitter in a big way, causing stock to plummet more than 9 percent in after-hours trading. While taking Google out of the running may not have been the end of the world, inside sources also say that Apple has decided to back off. With two of the biggest names out of the picture, Twitter is essentially left with Salesforce and Disney, both of whom are likely to reform Twitter drastically, should they get their hands on it, a fate that has been fiercely opposed by CEO Jack Dorsey and notably few others within the company.
Right now, Disney and Salesforce are the biggest names on the roster of possible Twitter bidders, which by nature of the bidding process puts them at the top. Right now, the likelihood of Twitter selling out is quite high, but not absolute. Other big names in tech such as rival Facebook have mostly not made any moves or announcements at this time, save for Microsoft, who has yet to commit to any sort of formal action or statement on the matter. Should Microsoft back down and leave Twitter staring down only Salesforce and Disney, the company will end up facing a tough decision; they can continue to forge their own path and languish in their freedom as they have for many a lackluster quarter, or they can give in and sell their identity to stay afloat.
UPDATE: Disney is out as well it seems, at least according to a ‘source familiar with Disney’.