Now Twitter is linked to Yahoo - reports suggest companies held merger talks
Two ailing internet companies getting together. What could possibly go wrong?
Fading web portal Yahoo has been in talks with struggling social media site Twitter in recent weeks over a possible merger. It follows reports in April that the publisher of the Daily Mail - which owns one of the most popular news web sites in the world - was considering a bid for Yahoo.
The claims have been made in the New York Post, citing anonymous sources "close to the talks".
The New York Post suggests that both companies held management-level talks about the potential benefits of a merger, which would supposedly help them both navigate their current business challenges.
One insider is quoted as saying that "Twitter is the destination for instant news" while Yahoo "has a lot of eyeballs on its site". It's debatable whether either of these points are anything more than wishful thinking, but the source insisted that the merger idea "isn't as crazy as you might think".
However, the Post's sources went on to suggest that Twitter pulled out of the talks very quickly, and did not even send CEO Jack Dorsey to speak to anyone at Yahoo. This created speculation that the conversations were never any kind of serious attempt at building a genuine business relationship, and may just have been a fleeting information-gathering exercise.
It was also reported, though, that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer was present at the talks, even if Dorsey's calendar was mysteriously full on those days.
Twitter isn't the first organisation to reportedly court Yahoo, which made $4.96bn in revenue last year. In addition to the Daily Mail, AT&T and US business magnate Warren Buffett were also recently linked with the company. The Daily Mail admitted in April that its interest was only at the "very early stage" of talks about a possible acquisition of Yahoo.
Yahoo began life in 1994 as Jerry and Dave's Guide to the World Wide Web. Co-founder Jerry Yang departed in 2012, but fellow co-founder David Filo is still resident as 'chief Yahoo'.
The plethora of acquisition rumours surrounding the company, now that it has solved the problem over how it would divest itself of its multi-billion dollar stake in Alibaba, the hugely successful Chinese ecommerce company, suggest that Yahoo's days as an independent company may soon draw to a close.
Twitter, meanwhile, has continued to tinker with its core offering as it struggles to match rivals for growth.