Twitter is among the more popular platforms if you want to air your current state of mind. This makes it a very lucrative platform, because everyone has a current state of mind, right? Well, financially speaking, not so much.
>Twitter for sale >No one is buying Twitter >Twitter stock crashed 18% last night >another twitter exec leaves everything is fine
— Gus (@guscraw) >October 6, 2016
Its shares — or rather, its monetary popularity — has just dropped 5% after its last remaining suitor, Salesforce, categorically affirmed that it does not intend to buy it. Last remaining suitor, because other entities that were lined up to buy it, like Google (parented by Alphabet Inc.), Verizon, Microsoft, and even Disney, who had all hinted at the intention to acquire the 140-character news platform last month. Even Google, which is now moving into artificial intelligence which is heaviltyinto personal user information, has not come good with predictions that it was among the first in line to acquire Twitter's considerable social communications assets.
Twitter's possible sale and Salesforce; >https://t.co/5Rc6GY2M7y
— TF Reviews (@btfrxyz) >October 11, 2016
Even Apple is more focussed on its consumer products, and is not likely to make a pitch for a social network.
Twitter, which went public in November 2013 has 313 million average monthly users, has reportedly struggled to generate a net profit for over 11 quarters now. Even advertisers are veering towards Facebook and Snapchat, which have eclipsed Twitter in terms of users. It has therefore lost over $2 million in market capitalisation. When it went public in 2013, it was worth $31 billion; now it is under $15 billion. Explains why it is looking to sell.
Why did Salesforce suddenly withdraw its chip? According to Techcrunch, Salesforce's largest investor Fidelity Investments was against the deal. It reportedly tried to buy LinkedIn, but Microsoft beat it to it.
No wonder salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff told the FT, "In this case, we have walked away. It [Twitter] wasn't the right fit for us."
