TIL Desk Business/San Francisco-The Walt Disney Company is evaluating a potential bid for Twitter, citing people familiar with the matter. Unconfirmed reports that Twitter is interested in selling itself buoyed the San Francisco-based company’s shares at the end of last week, and the stock price rose around a percentage point today as talk of Disney’s interest spread.
Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey is on the entertainment colossus’s board, which could help the service with its push toward using the messaging platform for streaming live video. Twitter will be among the online media broadcasting the first US presidential debate between the Democratic and Republican candidates tonight. Chatter about a possible Twitter sale has intensified amid sputtering efforts to transform the one-to-many messaging platform into a profitable business.
Google and Salesforce were considered prime suitors. Microsoft and Verizon were also on the list of potential buyers. Technology news site Recode said Twitter is seeking up to USD 30 billion, which could limit the number of bidders. Reports that the popular messaging platform was opening its doors to potential buyers have been circulating for weeks. “Twitter was positioning for sale for some time,” technology industry analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group said.
