Twitter shares fell by 9 percent on a report that Google would not bid on the company

Shares of Twitter slumped 9 percent late on Wednesday after Recode reported that Google, owned by Alphabet, would not move forward with a bid to acquire the social network. Citing sources it did not identify, Recode also said that Apple was unlikely to be one of the possible suitors. Twitter has told potential buyers it wants to conclude negotiations about selling itself by the time it reports third-quarter earnings on 27 October, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Salesforce.com Inc is in the running, while Alphabet and Walt Disney Co have also contemplated bids, the people told Reuters. Twitter’s stock was last down 9.21 percent in after-hours trade at $22.58. The company has struggled to generate revenue growth and profit, despite having some 313 million average monthly active users and a growing presence as a source of news. Twitter is a social networking company that was founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams. As of 2016, Twitter has over 300 million monthly active users. The company filed for an IPO in 2013, where the company received a valuation of $31 billion. The company has been haemorrhaging money, however, and speculation of a buyout by Google pushed stocks up by 20 percent. With inputs from Reuters