Twitter to conclude sale deliberations this month

Binding acquisition offers are due in two weeks, the sources noted. It also makes advertisers more likely to spend more, which also brings in more revenue for the company.

Earlier Twitter had hired Goldman Sachs Group and Allen & Co to look for potential buyers after it had received an expression of interest from Salesforce.

Twitter has 313 million monthly active users (MAUs) by the end of the second quarter, significantly lower than peers in the industry including Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) with 1.71 billion MAUs in the same period. This was because its previous effort known as Google Plus, flopped largely in the market, leaving it with no service that could compete with other rivals such as Facebook Inc. He is in action to diversify its Cloud Services and he is very keen to buy Twitter.

However, one thing is clear-Dorsey appears to be ceding or losing some control over Twitter future.

Twitter investors, on the other hand, seem to be happy at the reports.

Still, Benioff said that he walks away from most of the deals that he reviews. While Twitter’s foray into mobile video distribution is compelling, sources note that Apple can benefit from that without owning or managing it. There were reports that Twitter was asking for $30 billion, but that might be hard to achieve as the company is now valued at $16 billion. The latest report even indicates that it is on the cusp of concluding a takeover agreement. Salesforce has been busy these past few months, spending over $4 billion on acquisitions, so a Twitter buyout could seriously hurt the company’s valuation.

Salesforce is also reportedly trying to block the $26.2 billion Microsoft-LinkedIn deal, arguing that Microsoft’s acquisition of the enterprise social network LinkedIn will be anti-competitive. Amongst the most renowned companies to potentially bid for the micro-blogger are Alphabet Inc. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Twitter.

Shares of Twitter rose sharply Wednesday on word that a sale of the struggling company is nearing, despite questions about which suitor would be the best buyer for the social media site.

Twitter could cost more than US$20 billion, or more than a third of Salesforce’s roughly US$49 billion market value, the report said.

Twitter’s expedited timeline for a deal demonstrates CEO Jack Dorsey’s focus on providing transparency to shareholders and employees about the company’s future, Reuters adds.