Salesforce Considers Takeover of Twitter

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-shares-surge-on-takeover-report-1474636804

>Twitter Inc. may be contemplating a future in the hands of an acquirer after a yearslong effort to sharpen its focus and ignite user growth has fallen short.

>Salesforce.com Inc. is considering a takeover of the social media company, according to people familiar with the matter. The exploration is in early stages, one of the people said, and might not lead to a deal.

>Shares of Twitter rose 21% to $22.62 on Friday after CNBC reported talks of a possible sale. Before Friday, the stock had fallen 30% over the past year and its market value was about $13 billion. Its all-time high of $40.7 billion came in December 2013.

>Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff has been a voracious acquirer, and the company has indicated an interest in challenging its business-software competitors by devouring startups in such areas as e-commerce and artificial intelligence.

>The sales talks shift the conversation around Twitter from constant business turmoil to the strategic and financial value it could bring to any number of Silicon Valley giants.

>Twitter is approaching the three-year anniversary of its flashy IPO, when its stock shot up 73% as investors crowned the company a social media star rivaling Alphabet Inc. ’s Google and Facebook Inc. for advertising dollars. Twitter had become a household name, building a powerful communication tool that gives voice to ordinary citizens and celebrities alike.

>Since that debut, a series of management upheavals, product delays and muddled business strategies have complicated Twitter’s effort to capture the world’s mobile users and wring revenue out of them.
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