The company has “received expressions of interest” from several parties but has not yet received a formal bid, even though one could come shortly, says CNBC.
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Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shares of Twitter were up more than 15 percent pre-market and climbed further after the news that suitors are examining the possibility of a deal and assessing Twitter’s willingness to engage on that possibility.
These plans were unlikely to jump-start user growth, but they could help bolster brand awareness or drive revenue.
Suitors are said to be interested as much in the data that Twitter generates as its place as a media company.
Salesforce, meanwhile, is not exactly a household name – the US-based company operates in cloud computing for businesses and customer service platforms.
But a recent presentation about its new “Einstein” artificial intelligence platform provided a peak at how Twitter could fit into the company’s strategy. Both Google and Salesforce declined to comment on a potential purchase of Twitter.
Salesforce’s chief digital evangelist, Vala Afshar, tweeted on Friday: “Why @twitter?”. “I simply love Twitter”, he said.
The company’s flagging performance has also spurred talk of a takeover.
Co-founder Jack Dorsey took over as chief executive in July of a year ago after the previous boss, Dick Costolo stepped down. Twitter has 313 million monthly users, up just 3 percent from a year ago.
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But analysts wonder if Mr Dorsey is distracted by his payment firm, Square. Recent moves to be a big player in live video, including a deal to broadcast National Football League games, are too new to be reflected in user growth or ad sales. From then through Thursday’s close at $18.63, the stock had lost three-quarters of its value.
