This past week, the tech world was discussing one HUGE news item – Twitter’s supposed upcoming buyout.
On Friday, CNBC reported that, according to sources, tech giants like Google and Salesforce are planning on making a bid. CNET approached all companies for comments, but Twitter and Google did not immediately respond and Salesforce declined to comment altogether. It is all quite hush-hush for now.
On Sunday, the whisperings about Salesforce being the buyer continued to grow. This seems almost like a natural continuation to the June 2012 collaboration between the two companies. For instance, when Salesforce offered customers data to help them make better use of their social presence on Twitter, resulting in improved sales and customer service. Last week’s announcement of Salesforce’s new AI creation named Einstein – an application that can analyze tweets (among other data) – is also a sign of the partnership’s growing potential.
These rumors, may they be true or not, is just the PR Twitter needed. The social network’s stock skyrocketed, spiking 20% as of Friday, only days after RBC Capital Markets’ analyst Mark Mahaney downgraded Twitter’s stock to “underperform.” This might mean that the public is supporting Twitter and possible future collaborations.
The same cannot be said for Salesforce’s stock. By Sunday, Salesforce’s stock went down 5.6%. According to 27/7 WallSt, if Salesforce will make a bid on Twitter, its shares could drop 25% from $70 to $52, which is close to their 52-week low.
There is no timeline on this buyout, and we’re not even sure it’ll even happen, but if it WILL, and if the buyer is, indeed, Salesforce, then things will be sure to heat up in our industry. Twitter has been suffering from decreasing relevance claims and the need for more types of usage is more than necessary. Only time will tell if the word on the street will become a reality.