Twitter to be sold by the end of the month

Salesforce rumoured to be the only interested party left in the room

Struggling social media platform Twitter is expected to be sold off by the end of the month, with rumours suggesting that Salesforce.com is the only remaining interested bidder.

It comes after Twitter in September hired investment bankers Goldman Sachs and Allen & Company to stoke interest from potential bidders. According to reports, Disney, Google and Salesforce have all expressed interest - but Salesforce is the only company left considering an offer.

Twitter shares have dropped by almost 10 per cent in response to the rumours - and even Salesforce hasn't confirmed its interest, with founder and CEO Marc Benioff refusing to confirm those rumours when grilled on CNBC just yesterday.

According to Reuters, the company plans to conclude negotiations by the time it reports its third-quarter results on 27 October.

The sale of Twitter comes after board members urged Dorsey to consider a sale of the company in early September. Although Dorsey wanted the company he co-founded to remain independent, the company's stalled user growth, missed revenue targets and moribund share price persuaded him to consider offers.

In addition to Disney, Google and Salesforce, Verizon was also believed to have expressed an interest, although it is currently tied up in an acquisition of Yahoo, which has suddenly become more complicated.

However, while Benioff has been reluctant to come clean about Salesforce's interest in Twitter, the company's chief digital evangelist Vala Afshar has been more forthcoming. In a series of tweets, he gave a number of reasons why Salesforce might be interested:

"1. Personal learning network;

2. The best real-time, context rich news;

3. Democratize intelligence;

4. Great place to promote others."

The Disney rumours were fuelled by the fact that Dorsey sits on Disney's board and enjoys friendly relations with Disney CEO Bob Iger. The company is also interested in extending its channels to market.

Equally, though, Dorsey's aim in rushing the M&A process may well be intended to demonstrate that a takeover at a share price well below the highs it achieved in 2013 and 2014 would not be in shareholders' best interests.