Why Twitter didn't get the love from Disney, Salesforce
SAN FRANCISCO - Twitter can't seem to get any love.
The once high-flying social media giant has so far struck out with a variety of suitors as it seeks a multi-billion-dollar sale anchored to its considerable data assets.
One potential suitor, The Walt Disney Company, declined to pursue Twitter because of the platform's well publicized issues with trolls who harass users. In recently months, former Twitter-lovers ranging from actress Leslie Jones to venture capitalist Marc Andreessen have opted out of tweeting.
According to Bloomberg, which quotes "people familiar with management's thinking," Disney was concerned Twitter's problems battling abuse of users could harm the media giant's carefully honed image as a purveyor of wholesome entertainment.
Other reasons for abandoning the bid include Twitter's struggles to make money and its $12 billion market value. Disney could not be immediately reached for comment.
The report follows comments by CNBC's Jim Cramer claiming Twitter's harassment problems also prompted cloud computing company Salesforce.com to drop its bid. Salesforce.com declined to comment.
"What's happened is, a lot of the bidders are looking at people with lots of followers and seeing the hatred," said Cramer during an episode of CNBC show Squawk on the Street.
Last week, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff confirmed his company was backing away from a Twitter deal because "it wasn't the right fit for us."
But a Wall Street Journalreport Tuesday reveals that just a few months ago, Twitter wasn't even on Benioff's acquisition radar.
Emails belonging to former Secretary of State Colin Powell — who sits on the Salesforce board — that are part of the DCLeaks trove of hacked communications included a Salesforce acquisition target slide presentation featuring 14 companies, none of them Twitter.
A statement Salesforce emailed to USA TODAY noted that the company "has a disciplined and thoughtful M&A process where we routinely survey the industry landscape across a wide range of companies, but acquire very few. The presentation (in Powell's email) is a broad survey of publicly traded companies in May 2016, and the appearance of company names on the list doesn't imply Salesforce ever intended to acquire them."
Salesforce: We are walking away from Twitter
Meanwhile, Twitter has shed most of the gains generated from reports it was exploring a deal with companies including Disney, Salesforce.com and Google. After peaking at $24.87 on October 5, shares of Twitter have plunged 32%.
Twitter has been widely criticized for its handling of abuse by some users. Most recently, comedian Jones left the service briefly after receiving countless racially targeted tweets. Twitter has tried to prevent the spread of harassment by introducing tools to help users weed out bad tweets, including a low quality filter and more ways to report offensive tweets.
Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23 and Marco della Cava @marcodellacava