After reports that Google, Apple, and the Walt Disney Company have pulled out of the running bid to acquire Twitter, the company’s plans to conclude negotiations before their Q3 earnings have been looking a lot less likely to happen. Today that dream looks even more abysmal as Salesforce’s CEO Marc Benioff told The Financial Times that they walked away from the bid citing that it “wasn’t the right fit for us”. Salesforce was the last company out of the originally reported bidders.
With Twitter’s own chief executive officer Jack Dorsey on Disney’s board, it’s not too surprising why the two companies could have had a potential chance at making a large impact together. The Walt Disney Company could have aimed Twitter to help solidify it’s existing sports and media content, like ESPN and ABC. When Twitter’s Apple TV app was launched it included free streaming live video of NFL Thursday Night Football and since then has held a partnership with Bloomberg Politics to live stream each presidential debate.
According to The Financial Times sources, Twitter is still seeking out other potential bidders, but another iterated that the,”sale process is virtually dead”. Salesforce’s own CEO was questioned by its investors wondering “why a company that sells sales software to companies would want to buy a consumer internet company”.
Since original reports on the talks released, all listed companies have stepped out of the bidding discussions. Twitter originally had wanted to conclude negotiations with a buyer before the Q3 earnings on October 27th, and all these companies pulling out makes it seem more and more like the the earnings call will have a strong focus on why an acquisition didn’t happen.
Having struggled to find a great way to monetize on its 313 million monthly active users, Twitter still lags behind Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram.
