Twitter

Twitter is barreling towards a sale, and something could be announced within the next 30-45 days, according to a published report from CNBC. I’d already heard Microsoft mentioned, as well as Google and Salesforce.com. But one company I hadn’t heard about being interesting in a purchase is the one being talked about today, Disney. And as much as I dislike Microsoft, I’m kinda worried that Disney would be forced to take a hardline stance when it comes to cleaning up so-called hate speech on the service. They would also be under tremendous pressure to bow down to SJWs like Anita Sarkeesian and others, who already occupy positions of power within Twitter’s Orwellianly-named Trust and Safety Council.

So, Microsoft might be the lesser of two evils here. I’d favor Google over both those companies (Disclosure: Google/Alphabet pays me through AdSense), but I’m not sure how serious they are about making a legitimate bid. Twitter is valued at $16 billion, by the way, making any purchase potentially too costly if the buyer isn’t certain about how to extract maximum value for their dollar.

Here’s more, from the CNBC report

Twitter, which is said to be entertaining buyout bids, may also have Microsoft as a potential suitor, a source told CNBC on Monday.

CNBC’s David Faber reported on Monday that the social media is moving closer to a formal sale process for the company, according to sources familiar with the situation. However, he said, that does not mean it is in that formal process yet.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Facebook is unlikely to have interest in buying the social network. Moves toward a possible sale are expected to accelerate in the coming days, sources tell CNBC, with a deal potentially happening within the next 30-45 days.

And the Bloomberg post that talks about Disney’s interest…

Walt Disney Co. is working with a financial adviser to evaluate a possible bid for Twitter Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

After receiving interest in discussing a deal, Twitter has started a process to evaluate a potential sale. Salesforce.com Inc. is also considering a bid and is working with Bank of America on the process, according to other people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private…

Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger has a reputation as a strategic thinker with an appetite for bold bets, such as the $7.4 billion acquisition of animation studio Pixar in 2006, just months after he became CEO.

With Disney’s largest business — cable TV — losing viewers and facing more competition from online video services, Iger has invested in technology-related media businesses, including the Hulu video streaming service, digital media company Vice and Major League Baseball’s BAMTech, which provides the platform for online video services such as HBO Now. Twitter has also partnered with with BAMTech for its live streaming.

Iger has sought to increase Disney’s new media expertise, adding Dorsey and Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg to his board in recent years.

Still, the track record for old media businesses investing in technology companies isn’t great, Disney included. The world’s largest entertainment company lost hundreds of millions of dollars in its interactive unit in recent years. This year it decided to exit video-game production almost entirely in favor of a licensing strategy.

While Disney’s balance sheet is among the strongest in the media industry, Twitter, with a market value of $16 billion, would be the company’s largest acquisition since the $19 billion merger with Capital Cities/ABC Inc. in 1996.

A union with Twitter would give Disney much larger exposure to the ad dollars that are increasingly flowing to social media sites, according Paul Sweeney, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.

“Twitter may give them an opportunity to communicate directly with their customers in an increasingly fragmented media landscape,” he said.

I guess I’m just curious as to how you guys see this potential sale of Twitter. I realize not all of you are as invested in the service as I am, but this has the potential to change the social media landscape. Twitter hasn’t been profitable for most of it’s run, however in the right hands I am convinced that it could be revitalized. They’ve made some good moves recently on the streaming front as well. Still, the service is hard for newcomers to understand. For that reason, there’s a large percentage of people who use Twitter once or twice and then never return to the service. This needs to change.

One of the things it has going for it is the way it influences the national debate surrounding politics and culture in ways that defy the small size of the company when compared to the other social media Goliaths. This feature alone is enough to cause massive interest in acquiring the platform.

We’ll see what happens.