Twitter Shares Fall as Sale Process Sputters
06 Octubre 2016 - 6:50PM
Noticias Dow Jones
Twitter Inc. shares plummeted on Thursday after it became
apparent a sales process for the sputtering social-media company
might not draw as many suitors as investors had hoped.
Twitter stock, which had been marching steadily upward since
news of a possible sale surfaced in September, fell 20% to $19.87.
That brought the stock within 7% of where it traded before the
earlier deal news.
Alphabet Inc.'s Google doesn't plan to make a bid for Twitter, a
person familiar with the matter said. That news was earlier
reported by technology-news site Re/code, which also said Walt
Disney Co. won't put in an offer. Along with Salesforce.com Inc.,
Google and Disney were seen as the most likely to put in bids for
Twitter after the company effectively put itself up for sale.
Disney didn't respond to requests for comment.
Google's absence from the auction is a particular blow for
Twitter. It has much deeper pockets than either of the other two
possible suitors, and Alphabet sports a market value of more than
$500 billion. Its dominance in search and advertising caused some
analysts to speculate Google would be best suited to buy Twitter
and find a way to make money off its legions of users.
Since Twitter's initial public offering in 2013, a series of
management upheavals, product delays and muddled business
strategies have complicated the company's effort to capture the
world's mobile users and wring revenue out of them. The shares
traded as high as $69 soon after the debut but have faded as growth
in users and revenue slowed.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Twitter is
fielding bids this week, with one expected from Salesforce, whose
Chief Executive Marc Benioff sees the company as an "unpolished
jewel."
But Salesforce's quest has been complicated by the reaction of
its shareholders to the potential for an acquisition of Twitter.
Salesforce stock dropped sharply on the Journal story in a sign
investors see the deal as ill-conceived for a company that has
become a Wall Street darling based on its success providing
companies with customer-relationship management software.
Twitter had a nearly $15 billion market value as of Thursday's
close, which would make it a big bite for Salesforce, now worth $46
billion. If Salesforce were to strike a deal for the
consumer-focused company, it would be the largest acquisition in
its history and take it in an entirely new direction.
In an hour-long meeting with investors at the company's
Dreamforce customer conference on Wednesday, Mr. Benioff tried to
quell the unease. He avoided naming the social messaging
service—referring to it as "this elephant in the room" and "that
which is not named"—but also called it "a great brand."
Salesforce considers a wide variety of acquisition targets, but
bids on very few of them, and only in consultation with what he
called a "world-class" executive team and board of directors.
And he vowed to be disciplined on price.
"The kind of things I've been reading in the emails are so
extreme," he said. "I'm like 'Jesus. Do they really think we'd do a
deal at that level?'"
Salesforce shares rose Thursday on an easing in investor worry
that a competitive auction process could drive up the price of
Twitter. Salesforce jumped 4.2% to $71.26, erasing some of the
prior decline.
Write to Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 06, 2016 19:35 ET (23:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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