Twitter acquisition race: Google and Disney are out; Salesforce CEO is on the fence now

The Twitter acquisition talks are slowly, but surely, picking up momentum. Till a few weeks back, Google, Disney and Salesforce were being considered as strong contenders for the buyout, but according to Recode, Google currently has no plans to make a bid for Twitter. Apple, which was also being speculated to make a bid, is an unlikely candidate now. And there are reports confirming that Disney too is out of the race thereby leaving just Salesforce in the running. Naturally, Twitter shares have seen a drop by close to 9 percent . Google which was considered to be a likely candidate to make the bid, had even hired the services of Lazard Ltd, an investment bank, to evaluate the option as well as see how it compared with other potential bidders such as Walt Disney and Salesforce. Twitter itself hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Allen & Co to attract potential buyers after it got feelers from Salesforce. Twitter sale is happening Both Recode and Wall Street Journal confirm that the Twitter sale is definitely on the table. In fact WSJ said that Twitter is expected to field bids this week. Reuters reports that Twitter has told its potential acquirers that it is seeking to conclude negotiations by selling itself by its third quarter earning call on 27 October according to its sources. The timeline is quite ambitious considering Twitter only began a sale consideration last month. According to Reuters, this is Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s way to providing clarity to its shareholders and employees over the company’s future. [caption id=“attachment_339366” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Image: Reuters[/caption] Is Benioff on the fence now? Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has been building a case to convince Salesforce investors why it makes sense for the company to buy Twitter. Apart from being a well known consumer brand, Twitter also sits on a pile of data which can be used to advantage by a CRM such as Salesforce. Benioff considers Twitter to be an ‘unpolished jewel’ with untapped potential. According to him Twitter hasn’t cracked the potential in advertising, e-commerce and other data-rich applications which are important components for future growth. “I’m looking hard at unique data-rich companies and what I can do to make them more powerful and innovative if combined with Salesforce,” Benioff had said in a recent interview. Twitter’s data trove can be used by the CRM leader to mine data for artificial intelligence driven analysis as well as let Salesforce offer more services in sales, marketing and e-commerce.  Salesforce does integrate Twitter in many of its cloud services for corporate customers. But according to reports, Benioff is now downplaying his enthusiasm at the company’s annual Dreamforce event. According to Business Insider, Benioff said that Salesforce looks at everything and it dosen’t buy most things. “We haven’t agreed to buy that company… it’s an unpolished jewel. I think it’s a great brand and I just wish Jack [Dorsey] very well…good on his company, that’s how I look at it today,” said Benioff. Salesforce investors not really convinced However, it seems like Salesforce investors are not yet convinced. There were reports that Salesforce stock had fell by 5.5 percent after CNBC announced that the company along with Google had shown interest in buying Twitter. The Street reports that as of Wednesday, the Salesforce share price is still down by 5 percent after Benioff called Twitter an ‘unpolished jewel’ and still believed in turning Twitter around after acquiring it. So it seems like no one wants to buy Twitter at the moment – Salesforce CEO has been flip-flopping on the issue. Since none of the potential buyers or Twitter have issued official statements regarding the purchase, there is no clarity as to whether the sale will even happen. Twitter revenues for the second quarter this year has been around $602mn.