week 19 - Twitter eyeing sale to Google or Salesforce, reports say.

Twitter could soon receive formal bids from Google and Salesforce, following reports that both companies have been holding early talks to buy the embattled social network.

San Francisco-based Twitter is understood to have been working for several weeks with Goldman Sachs to explore a sale of the company to buyers attracted by its wealth of data, according to reports in the Financial Times. It may receive a formal  bid by the end of the year. 

The potential deal, first reported by CNBC, could value Twitter at $22 a share, according to Morningstar. 

Morningstar analyst Ali Mogharabi said Google's Alphabet would be the best acquirer for Twitter since it has not yet been able to crack social media on its own, despite several efforts.

"From a strategic standpoint, we think from it would be more beneficial for Alphabet as opposed to Salesforce," he said. 

However, sources have told the Wall Street Journal that Salesforce.com, which is a $48.7bn US-listed tech giant that makes software for businesses, is considering a takeover, with discussions at an "early stage". 

Vala Afshar, who is 'chief digital evangelist' at Salesforce, appeared to confirm the reports in a tweet on Twitter. 

In response to the news, Twitter's shares were up 21pc as early morning trading began, the greatest rise in two years, boosting the company's market cap to $15.7bn (£12bn). Twitter has been a perennial subject of takeover speculation amid persistently disappointing sales.The social network revealed its second quarter of losses in July, amounting to $106m (£81m). 

The decade-old social media platform's board of directors is reportedly open to a deal. While a sale is not imminent, a deal could close by the end of the year, a source told CNBC.