Disney said to be working with adviser on bid to buy Twitter
- by Dan Gutierrez
- in Markets
- — Sep 30, 2016
Walt Disney Co is reportedly mulling a bid for Twitter, joining Salesforce, Microsoft and Google as suitors for the social network.
The possible buyers are working with financial advisers to evaluate a potential bid for the microblogging service, according to various media reports citing unnamed sources close to the matter.
"It's a video distribution play", suggested Monness Crespi Hardt and Co. analyst James Cakmak, in the report, adding that Twitter would give Disney "the platform to reach audiences around the world".
Twitter's stock rose 20% Monday morning on the news of a potential acquisition by Disney. He admits that the company is now facing some challenges, but he sees it as "durable" and believes that its business is able to be improved. However, it didn't bid for a big company like Twitter.
Not just Disney, an American based cloud computing company Salesforce is other major firm looking out to purchase this content-driven social networking service.
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In contrast to some of Clinton's high powered surrogates used to woo younger voters such as Vermont Sen. The so-called millennial vote is a coveted demographic in Hillary Clinton's race to the White House.
So what exactly does Disney, the biggest film studio in Hollywood, want with Twitter?
Holmes also said that if Salesforce.com owned all of Twitter's data, it could have better insights into what sort of conversations companies such as airlines or telecom firms might be having with their customers and thereby gain more understanding of their business challenges. Twitter's share price soared 21 percent Friday following reports of the talks.
Twitter and Disney were not immediately available for comment.
Iger previously tapped current Twitter CEO Dorsey to sit on Disney's board, alongside Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Now that consumers are watching less television, Twitter could be the flawless means for Disney to provide sports, news and entertainment to its customers. As the company deals with issues such as stagnant user growth, soft advertising sales and losses running into hundreds of millions of dollars a year, the rumours of a sale have been floating for several months now.
"I checked it out, as did a lot of people, and I thought it was quite a good experience", Iger said during a Goldman Sachs conference on September 21. So far this year, the stock is down over -2.25%. Also, the deal, if consummated, could also be as much about acquiring a talent pool in Silicon Valley, which can be pivoted over time towards video delivery.
