Nobody wants to buy Twitter

Twitter is one of the pioneers of social media but it looks like that’s not enough as its woes stretched into another week, following Salesforce dropping out of acquisition contention.

Speaking in an interview with the Financial Times, CEO Marc Benioff has put considerable distance between Salesforce and the conversation platform. “In this case we’ve walked away. It wasn’t the right fit for us.” This is not the first time Benioff has said no to the acquisition, but it could be the last, maybe.

“It’s not the right fit for us for many different reasons. You’re going to look at price, you’re going to look at culture, you’re going to look at everything.” With so few companies remaining, if any, in the slowest-ever race to buy Twitter, Telecoms.com has been sending a collection bucket around the office to see if we’ll be the next potential buyer. Keep tabs on the Telecoms.com twitter page for updates.

The will-they won’t-they saga between the two has been raging on for weeks with share prices bobbing up and down like hungry duck in Richmond Park. Every time acquisition talk came up, Salesforce dropped and Twitter rose, and vice-versa when distance was put between the two. It would appear Benioff was keen on the purchase after losing out during the LinkedIn chronicle, though last week investors apparently said enough was enough and sent him to the naughty corner.

The Twitter business itself has been on the shelf ready for purchase for what seems like forever, but suitors are running out fast. Salesforce would appear to have been one of the remaining glimmers of hope for Twitter, but alas, Daddy said no and now Marc has to find a new toy to play with.

It’s a worrying time CEO Jack Dorsey and the rest of the Twitter leadership team, who have been overseeing decreasing demand for sales and slowing user growth numbers in recent months. While the company does have a user base which can compete with the likes of Facebook, its revenues are not on the same page. Last quarter, the company reported $535 million revenues, compared to $6.4 billion at Facebook. Acquiring Twitter as a means to bolster data capabilities may be a sound strategy, though basing the decision purely on revenues might be a trickier task.

The announcement from Benioff adds Salesforce to the list of Google, Disney, Apple and Facebook, amongst others. It’s a long-shot, but Telecoms.com hasn’t ruled itself out of the race, all depends on how much the collection bucket gathers this afternoon.