Social media giant Twitter Inc. is for sale, and the company has reportedly initiated talks with potential buyers.
Twitter is reportedly in talks with Google and Salesforce, according to CNBC. Earlier, it has been reported that Verizon is also circling the potential sale even if it is preparing to buy Yahoo.
According to reports, a bidding war might happen before inking the deal. The final price is seen to be around $22 per share, bringing its value close to $15.5 billion according to analyst Ali Mogharabi, The Guardian reported. Google is also said to potentially have the upper hand in the negotiations because it is a better strategic fit.
"The millions of users Twitter has is considered valuable - and given Google's wider ecosystem, it can help drive return and user growth on to Twitter," Mogharabi said.
In earlier reports, Twitter board member and co-founder Ev Williams told Bloomberg that the company is considering "right options." The company's revenue is considerably down in the last two years since Jack Dorsey became the CEO. Even after its efforts to improve the platform with improvements such as social video, the growth in the number of users still stalled. By the end of the second quarter, Twitter as accumulated a nearly $2.3 billion loss since it started.
Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo warned that the company might have a hard time meeting its broader strategic goals because the investors are focused on short-term quarterly results. Twitter is reportedly working with investment banks Goldman Sachs and Allen & Co. to close a deal with a purported buyer.