Twitter, the extremely popular and less profitable social network is apparently up for grabs, according to a few tech sites including Android Authority and Reuters.
Twitter, as you know, is extremely popular, especially so in Kenya where every other fortnight, we wage wars with other countries or media houses. Twitter has gained an immense following in Kenya. Even corporates like Safaricom, Zuku, Airtel and KCB lean on the versatility of Twitter to handle their customer care.
Despite adding new features, increasing / provisioning ways around the 140 character limit and sharpening Direct Messages to be more of an Instant Messaging service, Twitter still doesnât turn in a good profit. In fact, it operates at a loss of âhundreds of millionsâ according to AA and user growth is stagnant. Not all this augurs well with potential investors in the social network.
It is believed that the most probable buyer will be Google, a company that buys and invests in startups almost daily. But Twitter isnât a startup. It is already grown. I bet this will really prop up Googleâs social media efforts that did not really shine through with Google Plus.
There are other contenders, of course, one of which, weirdly, is Salesforce, the CRM giant that constantly battles Microsoft, Adobe and others in the enterprise field. Another interested buyer is  Verizon, the US carrier network.
The Telegraph UK says Twitter could go for up to $22 billion. News of the sale caused a spike in the value of Twitter shares by 21%, its biggest rise in 2 years.
This seems to be the year of major acquisitions and buyouts. Recently, Microsoft scooped up LinkedIn, the immensely popular professional social network. It will be interesting to see what becomes of Kenyaâs informal cyber arsenal (#KOT) with this possible acquisition.
Source: Android Authority.
Source 2: Reuters.
