Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Verizon All Bidding For Twitter

Twitter is trending – with four of the biggest companies in the world, including one (on the surface) very unlikely candidate. Who comes out on top in the battle for the bird? Take an in-depth look at the reasoning behind why these tech giants are interested in Twitter.

Twitter Buyout – Google, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Verizon All Bidding For Twitter

There’s an awful lot of talk going on about Twitter Friday.

The microblogging company has been struggling to grow (and even retain) its user base, seen shares plummet, and dealt with cashflow issues in 2016, making Twitter a ripe acquisition target.

The company has made some great strides lately, especially by partnering with the NFL to stream Thursday Night Football games, but at this point a buyout seems inevitable.

Now the question is, who gets to acquire Twitter?

With a market cap of $13.3 billion, Twitter can only be targeted by a handful of companies. But boy those companies are all some heavy hitters.

According to multiple sources, there are four competitors: Google, Microsoft, Verizon, and …. Salesforce?

Let’s take a look at each company’s interest in Twitter and the odds of a deal happening.

Google

Google and Twitter makes a lot of sense. This seems to be the obvious marriage. Google has the biggest bank account  — $73.1 billion — of any of the companies in the conversation. And parent company Alphabet, Inc. is not shy about investments and acquisitions.

Then there is the social aspect. Google made a play into the social media space with Google Plus, which never really picked up any steam. Since then, Google’s biggest social media strength has been YouTube. And while YouTube sees lots of traffic and ad revenue, it’s not as “connected” as Twitter.

Odds of acquiring Twitter: 3:2

Verizon

Verizon is looking to be more than just a telecommunication company, as evidenced by the company’s recent acquisition of AOL and currently ongoing acquisition of Yahoo. Verizon wants to stay in front of people and be a dependable source users flock to for news and information. Then Verizon would be able to monetize those users through ad space.

There’s definitely synergy in Verizon acquiring AOL, Yahoo, and Twitter. All these online spaces have user bases and messenger functionality.

Is there a shared vision between the properties? Most definitely.

But the better question is, Can Verizon handle three major ongoing acquisitions at once?

Realistically, it’s doubtful.

Odds of acquiring Twitter: 7:1

Salesforce

Salesforce is the surprise player here. On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much reasoning here. However, Salesforce actually makes the MOST sense of any partnership with Twitter. While the company’s focus is on cloud based enterprise tools and services for companies, one area in which it’s lacking is chat functionality and customer support. Twitter could be useful there.

And did you know CEO Marc Benioff tried to buy Linkedin as a social network to utilize? Unfortunately for Salesforce, Microsoft won out on that bidding war and is acquiring LinkedIn for $26.2 billion.

Odds of acquiring Twitter: 4:1

Microsoft

Truthfully, Microsoft shouldn’t be on this list. But the company is in the conversation for Twitter so here it is – Microsoft is just trying to drive the price up on Salesforce.

The company is acquiring LinkedIn (having outbid Salesforce) for $26.2 billion, and won’t be looking for another social network. The only exception to this thinking is that Microsoft wants to regain relevancy with millennials and a younger audience by acquiring Twitter.

Odds of acquiring Twitter: 20:1

Regardless of who wins out here, shareholders are extremely happy about the news, as shares of Twitter (TWTR) soared 21.42% Friday.

#BUY

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