Twitter wants to be bought, but no-one is buying

It’s no secret that Twitter wants to be bought, and there have been numerous reports circulating lately mentioning big names, including Google and Apple, as potential buyers. However, it turns out that these companies don’t actually appear very interested in buying the social media platform right now.

Sources close to Google, which has repeatedly been tipped at the most likely buyer, have stated that the search giant has no current interest in making a bid for Twitter. Similarly, sources close to Apple have spoken to Recode suggesting that Twitter should have “low expectations” about receiving an offer from the company. Disney had also considered a bit but is now no longer interested in making an offer, according to another batch of sources.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised to hear that Google isn’t interested in stumping up cash for the platform, at least at the moment. The company is still looking for a way to crack social media, but the search giant has recently released its Duo and Allo apps to improve its presence in the mobile messaging space.

Who’s left to buy Twitter? Well, Salesforce has been seen as one of the most aggressive potential buyers, after company CEO Marc Benioff reportedly called the company an “unpolished jewel”. However, questions have been raised over whether Salesforce can take the medium term hit to its own valuation if it hands over the cash for Twitter.

Twitter’s share price has ballooned by around 45 percent over the past three months based on these various sales rumors, but there’s still little more than speculation to suggest than a take over is imminent. Twitter’s stock price has fallen more than 9 percent in after-hours trading following the news that Google is out of the running.

Part of the problem for Twitter is that the company doesn’t have a profitable business model. The social media site hasn’t made a profit since it began operations and its base of 313 million active users pales in comparison to the data mining and advertising capabilities of Facebook, which boasts 1.6 billion users. Despite many being familiar with the platform, Twitter is roughly only as popular a Instagram and the often bemoaned Google+, and has no solid revenue stream. That’s a tough sell for the expected $15 to $20 billion asking price.