The Walt Disney Co., led by CEO Bob Iger, is evaluating a bid for social-media platform Twitter, reports Bloomberg, while Twitter is simultaneously evaluating a sale. Rumors that Twitter was up for acquisition have been swirling for several months now.
Salesforce.com Inc. also is said to be considering a bid, while other potential major buyers such as 21st Century Fox Inc., AT&T Inc., Comcast Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc. aren’t interested, Bloomberg reports.
Twitter has a market value of $16 billion. Should Disney buy the company, it would be its biggest acquisition since it purchased Capital Cities/ABC in 1996 for $6 billion.
Twitter stock rose on the news, gaining 2.1 percent to $23.09, while Disney share prices fell 2 percent to $91.40.
Disney has been making moves in the digital world, investing in such businesses as Hulu, Vice and MLB Advanced Media’s BAMTech, in which Disney in August invested $1 billion. Iger also has added such digital experts as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to the Disney-ABC board of directors.
READ MORE: Bloomberg
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