Here's Why Salesforce Shouldn't Buy Twitter, But Google Should

Shares of Twitter TWTR soared over 16% in morning trading Friday after CNBC reported that a takeover bid could be imminent, with both Salesforce CRM and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL looking like interested suitors.

While Twitter’s extensive collection of user data and its global real-time news platform could do wonders for many different types of companies, my initial reaction is that Google would be a much better fit than Salesforce.

Don’t get me wrong; I think that Salesforce is an incredibly well-managed company with a solid future. However, Google’s existing platforms are more social, casual, and compatible with Twitter’s network.

Salesforce could use Twitter’s platform to expand its focus outside of its enterprise business, or it could push Twitter into the enterprise world that it knows so well. Either way, that requires a change in direction for both companies.

Under the Alphabet Inc. umbrella, there are already several outlets that would work well with Twitter integration. Take YouTube, for example. Twitter has been working hard over the past year to ramp up its video streaming efforts, so any cooperation with a platform like YouTube would make sense right now.

The possibilities are really endless; YouTube could become the go-to video host on Twitter. Users of both sites could have their account synched in order to streamline their experiences. YouTube comments could integrate individual tweets. Trending topics could become synchronous on both websites.

There’s also Android, the Google-made mobile operating system. There’s over 100 million people in the U.S. alone that use Android-enabled devices. For those that are already Twitter users, improvements to the Twitter experience on Android would come easier. Increased compatibility could help boost membership to Twitter from Android users who are not already on the site.

Of course, all we have are reports right now, and it’s tough to judge which potential buyers are the most interested in Twitter. It’s even more difficult to gauge what each company would have planned for Twitter. Nevertheless, Twitter seems like it would fit well under the Alphabet Inc. umbrella.

This Twitter-related news is the latest story in what has been a busy week in the business world. For a recap of this week’s biggest headlines, check out today’s episode of the Zacks Friday Finish line podcast:

 

Disclosure: Zacks.com contains statements and statistics that have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable but are not guaranteed as to accuracy or ...

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Chee Hin Teh 7 years ago Member's comment

Thanks for sharing