Microsoft rumored to be among Twitter's many current suitors

By John Callaham
published

A new report claims that Microsoft could be one of the many companies that might be interested in acquiring Twitter. Others interested are said to include Google, Salesforce and Verizon.

The rumors that Twitter might be for sale hit earlier today via CNBC, naming Google and Salesforce as interested parties. TechCrunch later posted that its own sources claim that Microsoft and Verizon are also interested in acquiring Twitter.

Microsoft has already announced plans to buy social network LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, with the deal scheduled to be closed by the end of 2016. Later, it was revealed that Microsoft came out on top of a bidding war with Salesforce to acquire LinkedIn, which caused Microsoft's final price to be several billion dollars more than it first pitched. TechCrunch stated today that its sources have indicated that Microsoft's interest in Twitter "in part, is an attempt by the company to drive the price up to keep it out of Salesforce's hands."

When contacted a company spokesperson stated, "At this moment Microsoft has nothing to share." Indeed, none of these reports has been officially confirmed by any of the companies listed. However, the rumors have certainly helped to drive up the price of Twitter's stock today by over 19%, as of this writing.

Do you think Microsoft should buy Twitter and if so, why? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

John Callaham
John Callaham
139 Comments
  • Does that mean soon Twitter might drop Windows Phone support too?
  • You can downvote me but as a user of Microsoft Health it confounds me how Microsoft can abandon it's own platform and services in favor of another. If Google buys it you can be guaranteed they will drop Windows. If Salesforce gets it, there is no evidence they will keep the app updated.
  • When Google gets it, i'll drop Twitter.
  • Honestly most of the time it's information overload and a lot of rambling. It has been helpful in contacting companies but that's about it.
  • And when Google gets it, you can say farewell to the Windows versions of the app
  • And most likely even the desktop version.
  • Exactly. It's the same thing that they do. Maintain, Drop support, Limited API, Link to their ads services. So Google.
  • Google depends on Windows desktop users to survive, unfortunately for Google iOS apps and Android apps don't give them revenue, on Chrome browser is very different, so I think you should get your facts right.  Google supports Windows with Chrome
  • You missed my point completely. My facts are straight. Lined up perfectly in regards to my point. We could discuss how "supported" it is based on the limitations levied by requiring a Chrome only based system in a corporate network and the headaches that's call support creates. Yes it is technically supported, buy only just the bare. minimum to say they are there. And as far as revenue last I saw it was from ads on search which Android should have the lions share.
  • That will piss off 10s and 10s of users griffin
  • If Google gets it +1
  • And that is why I'm pitching for Microsoft. Google is already a mammoth.
  • While I (and most who follow WC) will agree, Microsoft has grown and expanded quite a bit... At which point will Microsoft be regarded as the giant, successful corporation it is? Microsoft is no different than Google nowadays - annoyingly everywhere.
  • yep....good one
  • Count me in too.
  • I have a feeling Microsoft will just not know what to do with Twitter if they got it. They can't seem to support what they already have.
  • Humorous, sad, and true. I'd say Microsoft could integrate twitter back into their services and potentially expand and flourish, but it'd likely be a scenario similar to MySpace (RIP)... Or better yet, Lumia and Skype.
  • Actually Windows phone support will be dropped ESPECIALLY if Microsoft buys it.
  • Sad but not without some truth in it.
  • Microsoft HealthVault is what was dropped and not Microsoft Health.
  • That is big failure on Microsoft's part, always confusing people with their naming
  • Haha, that made me chuckle. It's funny and sad at the same time... because there is actually a thread of logic that could be followed that says it might be true.
  • not only that, one or two features will jump to some unrelated MS IP and then they're just make Twiter dissappear completly
  • Yes. They will then fold Twitter in to Skype and fire all Twitter employees. The following year they will take a "$xxx" write-off. The end.
  • Excellent response!!!
  • Lol, Us fanboys can down vote all we want, but we should know it's true. It will be soon be revamped 'Tweets for Corps' and only be and only be allowed to run on Enterprise versions of the Windows OS. =P
  • Tweets for Corps is a good idea considering Twitter accounts are still linked to Office, Outlook.com, and MSN. It'd suck, lol, but nonetheless a good one.
  • I got a good laugh out of your comment. Kind of true though.
  • It would be a great buy
  • Twitter has lost money every year of its existence, losing more than 500million each year for the past 3 years alone. Whoever "buys" Twitter is also taking on a company that is dying on the inside as they hemorage money and will have to find some way to at least transform Twitter into a break-even investment. If no one buys Twitter, they will literally have to close doors. Theres a lot of cool things MS or Google could do with this company, but I have a hard time imagining how they'd make it profitable. http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/TWTR/financials
  • "Whoever 'buys' Twitter is also taking on a company that is dying on the inside as they hemorage money and will have to find some way to at least transform Twitter into a break-even investment". Great, so it'll fit in nicely with their LinkedIn acquisition. Personally, I can't wait for Skype Twitter to launch. Coming soon, no doubt.* ​*only on iOS and Android  
  • The market numbers clearly show LinkedIn as a company was break even to slightly profitable. It's reasonable to think that with some job cuts to remove redundancy, MS could make a ROI on them. Whether or not they're a good fit for MS is a philosphical debate.
  • I think you're taking my comment far more seriously than you should.
  • Also for OS X and Windows 10 ;)
  • Where I live, TV companies use Twitter to measure audience levels, they have automated bots to count # of hashtag and that gives companies valuable info about their customers so they can sell them better advertisement.  So I think Microsoft could gain a lot of nice partners with big Media companies to give them better tools to do analytics on sentiment analysis. This is how companies can now if tweets are real or not, and the real tweets are the ones than matter, not the ones published by bots
  • 500 million a year for a massive amount of social/conversational data? That's the one thing google needs and as long as MS can prevent Google (and Salesforce to an extent) from getting their hands on that data they have a leg up in the AI area.
  • Microsoft will rename it Onetwit.
  • Twitter For Business will be the new catchy brand for enterprise focused Twitter.
  • I love twitter service and would like to see Microsoft owning it. This way all OSs will get an app, good or bad but an app. If Google bought it, they will pull twitter app from Windows/WM.
  • I like your idea of having Twitter available on all apps, but that's not the value of Twitter Microsoft is looking for. Microsoft is just behind Amazon AWS on cloud popularity, and they have invested on huge analytics software that runs on R Servers run by Azure, I'm pretty sure that if Microsoft purchases Twitter, they will give better analytics tools to enterprises to know their customers better.
  • Agreed, and lots of data for cortana to improve her NLP and conversational skills (remember Tay running on twitter :') )
  • Google will put all its might to add Twitter to their Alphabet since, they lack a social networking platform!
  • And they will do anything to remove it from Windows platforms
  • Let's wait and watch
  • Lets not, look at youtube you must have a gmail Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Cool MS should buy it and make the app better for BoreOS & Adroid!  Nutella approves this message..
  • This would be great. A dream of mine is a "Microsoft Pulse" service. Sort of like a constant stream of news, tweets, status updates, notifications, etc., right inside Windows. It could either be bundled with Cortana or the Action Centre (although I think the entire Action Centre should be built into Cortana, to be honest). There could also be an extension in Edge for it. Why, you ask? Simply to stay connected and up-to-date at all times. Even when I'm working on something, or watching a YouTube-clip (etc.) I still enjoy being connected. It'd also reduce the number of times you have to log on to various services like Twitter and Facebook.  
  • I like your take on this! I agree
  • Re: Gustav,
    Great idea and it could have live feeds to "live tiles" to stay connected and up to date at all times.
  • This is a bad idea.  Twitter has a hard enough time justifying it's worth, MS cannot magically make it better.  I hope like hell Apple buys it.  Furthermore, I am starting to think the best idea for microsft to grow it's company is by working with Seattle and trying to lure companies out of sillicon valley.  I would say proximity breeds innovation there and Seattle has to be #2 location in the tech industry.  It's super expensive to live in California and it's becoming a rat race there.  Why not help Seattle lure more tech companies away from Cali and into proximity of MS and Amazon?  That way, MS will have a local population of entrepenures and disruptive companies that their people will be hanging out with after work.  I think it's a bigger game now....
  • I disagree, I think Twitter doesn't have enough infrastructure to make Twitter profitable.  Let me give you an example: Analytics.  Twitter generates billions of tweets per hour perhaps more, and in important events like SuperBowl, US Elections, Earthquakes, tweets grow exponentially, just as in other events that are very important for Twitter community. The problem is that during these special events, Twitter doesn't have enough money to analyse in real time whats going on, and that could be solved if Microsoft buys Twitter since Microsoft has very good elastic cloud capability with Azure that could solve this capacity issue on Twitter.
  • If MS can tie twitter/email(outlook/live/hotmail)/skype/linkenin together and that is a big big IF, it could work...i guess. 
  • Big doesnt come close to the impossibility you are suggesting, they;ll reboot it 15 times before giving it the chop.
  • Well, I like Twitter the way it works now, but I do think Microsoft could bring something new to the table, and all platforms would receive Twitter. I strongly hope Google doesn't purchase Twitter, because if they do, you can say goodbye to the Windows apps
  • I think Microsoft's only interested in driving up the price. They have no interest in owning two social media platforms. What value does Twitter bring? LinkedIn at least adds value to Microsoft's enterprise offerings but Twitter really brings nothing new to the table other than name recognition.
  • I have a feeling the same way. SalesForce drove up the cost of Linkedin so they are trying to return the favor.
  • Yes Microsoft should buy Twitter cause it has no social network, Google has YouTube, Facebook has Facebook lol...
  • Facebook also has Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp... Microsoft probably just wants to partner with companies like Facebook.
  • Agreed on that, I think LinkedIn is a job social network, but if Microsoft wants to get closer to consumers Twitter is an excelent platform to understand better the needs of consumers for Microsoft products.
  • Does Microsoft has more money in the bank after the LinkedIn deal? I don't think they will pay more billions to buy a worthless social network. Or they might buy it and shut it down layoff the employees just like they did with Nokia.
  • As of 6-30-16, MSFT has $113 Billion in Cash and Short-term Investments.  With their credit rating, they should be able to finance Twitter, if they really want it. I just don't see why they would.  Twitter has had the most problems among its social media rivals generating a revenue stream from their servic.  I also see a future where Twitter is looked down upon as a Company whose principal product is "generating outrage and encouraging mob mentality".  I see lots of lawsuits in Twitter's future. OTOH, if Microsoft's sole reason is revenge at Salesforce for making them overpay for LinkedIn, that's freakin' fantastic...  
  • Twitter is worthless to you, but about 100% of Fortune 500 use Twitter to know their customers better and to know what is wrong in a company and what is needed to increase a company reputation and offer better services/products.
  • In terms of company culture/target audience, Google makes the most sense to me as the consumer-focused company that has failed miserably in previous attempts to get into social networking (Google+ had some great tools, but too late to make a dent). I have a particularly hard time seeing what Salesforce would do with it - LinkedIn made a lot of sense for them, but what does a business-only company like Salesforce want to do with Twitter?
  • As much as I love MS and their products and services, I don't think this would be a good idea. MS should not own everything as that would not be healthy for competition. On the flip side, I'm not keen on Apple or Google owning it either because both would try and lock it down only to a specific set of chosen platforms.
  • You mean the relevant ones? Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Relevant ones? Are there other major platforms outside of iOS, Android, and Windows? I don't want Twitter to arbitrarily be limited to whatever Apple or Google deems important when it's currently usable by everyone, regardless of their personal preference in OS. Even a bitter soul like you can agree that a social networking platform works best when it's available to as many people as possible, right?
  • Windows isn't a major mobile platform. It sales are within the margin of error. Why bother with it instead of BBOS, Tizen, WebOS, Sailfish, Ubuntu, etc? None of them are worth it. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • As long as you keep trying to separate Windows Mobile out from the rest of the Windows ecosystem, the point you are trying to make does not hold water. Yes, a lot of people access Twitter from mobile and more often than not, it isn't from a mobile Windows device because it's very much out of the spotlight at this point, but plenty also access it from apps both on and off the desktop. The unification of Windows across form factors is not going to go away, either you acknowledge that or keep pretending that it isn't a thing. Back to my original point, Twitter shouldn't be bought by MS, Apple, or Google as I don't think any of them would be good for the consumers who already use the service.
  • By creating a UWP you are excluding all Windows machines except for Windows 10. A website or x86 program will give you access to a much greater user base as older Windows versions are the vast majority. Windows Mobile is still irrelevant. The ecosystem hurts as much as it helps. There is a reason UWP has been widely ignored by developers as well as users. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • I'm not going to disagree with you that for now, x86 programs and websites have the majority of users and, to be honest, I'd rather the majority of mobile apps go away entirely because their existence is rooted in the inability of yesteryear's mobile browsers to work with complex websites. However, I also think that the number of UWP apps and developers making them are going to increase because it's one of the few places where growth is possible and because the number of touch-enabled Windows computers and 2-in-1's are only going to increase and the majority of x86 apps aren't up to snuff for that change. I can't predict the future of course and, at the end of the day, it's all going to come down to whether MS makes the ecosystem attractive enough, whether Apple continues to screw up with their customers the way they have been of late, and whether Google manages to get both Android and all of the manufacturers who each have their own version of the OS on the same page and make it into something other than "that cheap, inconsistent alternative to iOS."
  • This all sounds terrible. I ran XP MC last week and if I didn't care about security risks, would use it and forget Windows 10 and apps altogether. Windows 10 and UWP increasingly frustrates me. I use less of it and subsequently anything requiring a PC or phone daily as I can barely tolerate it. x86 programs were and still are preferable by the vast majority of people who own a computer. The twitter website (or any domain) isn't going anywhere. Apps are desirable when useful/simple/mobile - the best are the ones without a website, although VLC certainly sucks as a Windows 10 app. And developers definitely don't share this "growth is possible" mindset. It's the tools they have to work with, not the amount of devices their app has to seamlessly work across that matters. Even Google sucks with Chrome. And IE is still superior to Edge. Creating "modern" and simpler programs (apps) has only resulted in the need for More of them as everything is being separated... a very stupid and annoying problem.
  • Worst idea ever, they'll buy it then retrench everyone then write it off as a loss.
  • If they buy Twittter, they'lll destroy it just like everything else they've gotten their hands on. Especially with that fool Nadella in charge.
  • Could not agree more...
  • If they can link it with Skype, they can have a product to rival Facebook
  • No opinion for you this time
  • Nutella and MS will pay over 50 billion for that,  twitter plus business facebook will give them the edge in data mining for profit for sure!
  • I guess I'm feeling especially cynical this morning. I'm kind of hoping Microsoft doesn't get it. Can anyone think of a scenario in the last decade where Microsoft spent billions of dollars on any aquisition and improved either Microsoft or the acquired resource? I can't. If you can, I'm sincerely interested. I'm a frustrated fan that could use some positive news. I'm looking at this Twitter thing and thinking... Are they going to buy an industry leader so they can sit on it for 5 years without innovating until it fades from the public mind before giving it attention -- like they did with Skype. Or will they buy it and excite their fans with visions of greater integration and hope of innovation, to ultimately fire all the employees and write everything off as a total loss -- like they did with Nokia?
  • "Can anyone think of a scenario in the last decade where Microsoft spent billions of dollars on any aquisition and improved either Microsoft or the acquired resource". ​Minecraft.  
  • Hey, thanks for the response. I think that one might actually work. Good catch.
  • I'm conflicted. I want MS to get Twitter if only because I don't want to lose the app on Windows. If Google gets it the first thing they will do is censor it, then kill the Windows versions, then collect all the data from it and add it to their Skynet mind-engine. But I do NOT want MS to buy it because I don't think it's a good move for them. A waste of time, money, and effort that they could put elsewhere. I couldn't care less about Saleforce getting it, but Microsoft clearly does, so they must perceive some sort of threat there.
  • It may not be that they see Saleforce as a threat, but more as revenge for SaleForce making MS pay much more than they wanted to pay initially for Linkedin. I could be wrong though :p maybe there is some sort sort of threat they see in them. Who knows
  • If Google buys Twitter, they'll merge it into their Allo app, guaranteed. And Google+
  • And then forget about it Posted via the Windows Central App for Android (LG V10 or Nexus 5x)
  • How about spending the money on bringing MS R&D initiatives to market instead of acquiring waning social media platforms?
  • They need to be rumored to be bringing features to W10M
  • Or maybe stability and not flaky builds.  Once again,  my views of MS are being proven right....Data mining and data sales is what they are after.  The only reason they have not purchased real facebook yet is because zuck won't sell....
  • Twitter will open the gates of social networking for Microsoft. It's an interesting acquisition. For starters, kindly make a proper Windows app for Twitter with all the latest features like Cortana support and card notification. I am still waiting for a proper LinkedIn app for Windows 10.
  • Twitter is dying, number of users and number of tweets going down every day. People are overdosing on social media and are switching to the ones that are a little slower..... and I agree with most people here, MS is very unsuccessful at integrating the companies / products they buy. Most of them just slowly die, are liquidated or are sold off again. Ms staff think they are better at everything and will start from scratch rather then use the know how and people they bought.
  • Yes, buy it all, Microsoft!  But it ALL.  MS should look into buying Dailymotion or Vimeo or whatever the heck to compete with YouTube.  I want to be able to fully get out from under Google's grip.  We need more alternatives to what Google has a strangle hold over.
  • If MS buys it maybe everyone will see sponsored Surface Phone ads in their Twitter feeds by this time next year!
  • And leave to other social networks. Twitter is losing users and isn't as popular as it used to be. Whoever acquires it will either use the technology and let it die, or try to revive it with new features which could make it die even further.
  • No. Many people working for twitter will loose jobs.
  • lol, please don't pretend to actually care about things.
  • Wait is Danny boi joining in on the Microsoft hate for once. Are u admitting that they are slacking hard. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Anyone but Facebook.
    Anyone but Facebook.
    Anyone but Facebook.
    Anyone but Facebook. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Mary I ask why not Facebook? It's already the king of social networks?
  • Because Facebook ruins everything they touch. Facebook as a platform is unbearable already. Now Instagram, besides the plagiarism, also became a nightmare with Facebook's insistence in their sh*t algorithms that remove chronological order to replace it with what they want you to see (disguised as what they think you want to see). Not to mention the content restrictions and censorship. Twitter is free of all of that crap. If Zuckermoron and friends get it, they'll destroy everything that's good about Twitter for sure. Just like they did with Instagram. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • One day I was bored so I posted a depressing post as a joke, two hours later my suggestions were filled with depressing stuff. Seriously lol, too funny.
  • If Microsoft buys, the only thing I can think of....Bots!!!
  • Bots,  the windows phone of the future.  BOTS are not going to replace apps.  Thats just a microsoft smoke and mirrors tactic.   Microsoft,  datamining a computer near you.
  • I love Twitter. It is my favorite social network, but I don't think Microsoft should buy it.
  • Pls MS don't kill Twitter.
  • Lol
  • Good, keep it away from google hands
  • Good acquisition if it goes ahead
  • Go for it Microsoft - I'll put my hand in my pocket if it helps to keep Google out in the cold!
  • I love it if microsoft buy it, look at minecraft it turns great and also skype recent updates and bots make it great Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • I want MS to buy Twitter.
  • I don't think so, they ruin or kill everything they buy. LinkedIn and skype are exceptions.
  • How about Google acquire Facebook while Msft professionally takes Twitter to skyrocketing business.
  • They'd have my full support if they promise to clean house and get rid of Jack Dorsey and buy out that scumbag Saudi investor.
  • What the heck is Twitter anyway ?
  • A pit designed to burn money.
  • It's another Nutella's nut case.
  • Twitter would be great for watching live events. Maybe Microsoft could get the right to air a show like Grey's anatomy or big bang theory. It would be great to watch in the xbox app. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • I like the idea of Microsoft for getting close to companies like LinkedIn and Twitter which are very close to customers (corporate customers for LinkedIn and consumers with Twitter) Microsoft would give a lot of value to Twitter by adding better analytic capabilities to process real time events (important events like SuperBowl, US Elections, Natural disasters, etc) This could be easily handled with Microsoft's elastic cloud services and that is something Twitter can't do today since they don't have enough technology to process all that amount of BigData in real time.
  • Twitter is a dumpster fire, whoever buys it for a completely ludicrous amount of money will spend the next 10 years trying to cover up that it's a money pit by which that point everyone will have moved off Twitter to something else. Don't buy it Microsoft. Every attempt to clean up the cesspool that is Twitter just furthers it's decline.
  • I would like Twitter to stay independent ad get an non profit company, with purpose to connect and inform people. As money comes in, somebody wants to dig gold. In this case I would love to see Microsoft acquire twitter, as I think they might get the service right from its roots and intentions. Google has ruined his own social network and has the powers to create a new one. We don't need a Google wings or stuff like that.
  • With Microsoft's partnership with the NFL, and Twitter's streaming deal with the NFL I could see Microsoft really having an interest in Twitter. I like Twitter in the fact that I can design it to my specific interest by having the choice in what content I follow. Microsoft would probably try to incorporate it into some of their paid services, (Office 365 etc.) or on the enterprise side (LinkedIn, Skype for Business, Skype Teams, etc) and use it as a hook to get more people to purchase their paid services. I am sure that is where it would be utilized by Microsoft since they primarily focus on enterprise these days. Microsoft is all about the dollar. However, if Microsoft buys it and tries to integrate it with the hot mess that is Skype though I'm done. lol That will surely kill it through dysfunction and ineptitude.
  • Twitter for 30 billion? How about Hulu, Vimeo, Dailymotion or expanding XBox video into an awesome Youtube like service. But more noise on the net type services?  Whatever MS. Whatever,   
  • Twitter would be dead !
  • Oh my gosh! I think Twitter should just be independant! I don't want anyone to buy them. Too many monopolies isn't a good thing!
  • How can you have "too many monopolies"?  I thought the point is that you can only have one.
  • We're gonna have periscope? or nope?
  • I want Twitter to buy Microsoft.
  • That's impossibility tense.
  • "Thank you for using Microsoft Twitter.
    We’re reaching out because you are a user of the Twitter app for Windows Phone. Recently, we have seen some issues with the app due to compatibility problems. We want to continue to provide a reliable Twitter experience for Windows Phone, which we believe will be best delivered through the Twitter website. We will therefore be ending our support for the app and removing it from the Windows Phone Store."
  • Talk about a lot of time on your hands. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android (LG V10 or Nexus 5x)
  • I hope MSFT will get it. I don't like Twitter, so if MSFT gets it, it will follow the path of Nokia and Skype - right in to a grave...
  • The moment someone buys it, I will quit using it. Personally, I feel that its not the same when someone else runs the show and not the creator.
  • Please just keep it out of google's hands. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • MS should buy this, for many reasons. Begining with the value MS could give to Twitter (analytic capabilities and cheaper hosting could get it to be a net-zero company YoY), over the data MS gets from Twitter for their NLP and conversational capabilities (They already showed that twitter data is useful with Tay, of course that was quite rudimentary and was misused by the Twitter community). Finally by keeping this out of Google's hands (not salesforce as much IMO) they prevent Google from having a world-class social system for their own NLP/conversational algorithms, that might be the most important part of the deal.
  • Re: Guy_De_Siguro,
    NLP = natural language processing.
    Very interesting comment. It made me stop and think. Is twitter a good example of this? It's brevity can make the communication forced, misspelled, cryptic, and even unintelligible if you aren't "in the know" of obscure abbreviations. It's interesting that the twitter style of writing spills over to other media that doesn't have any limit on the number of characters used. Easy and obvious communication, understood by most people, should be the goal.
    Best Wishes
  • Well twitter is dropping the 140 character limit (if I say so myself it's probably to drive their value up just for this ;) ) and on a more personal note I think cortana (or any AI) should have a firm grasp on abreviations and colloquial language (-usage) as well as just nice, clean cut english (or any other language). An AI needs to understand the cryptic messages I get over SMS or whatsapp as well, because when my friends (or me) write on a phone, we write like you would on twitter even though there's no limitation.
  • ms should leave it alone.
    don't need them to f... up anything else.
  • The only reason I can think of for buying Twitter was to ensure the competition didn't gobble it up. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • It's going to be folded into Skype.
  • Greetings from China.  Who's Google and what is a Twitter?  Can't be so big if we don't even have them in the world's biggest market.