Twitter could sooner receive its formal bids from potential buyers who are keen to buy the company, according to reports.
Multiple potential buyers attracted by the company's data have expressed an interest in the social media company, according to CNBC, including Google and Salesforce.
Salesforce.com, which is a $48.7bn US-listed tech giant that makes software for businesses, is reported to be considering a takeover, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal, 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.
Why @twitter?
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) September 23, 2016
1 personal learning network
2 the best realtime, context rich news
3 democratize intelligence
4 great place to promote others
But a later Tweet seemed to suggest his views were personal.
I have tweeted my personal views regarding 'Why Twitter?' numerous times over the past couple of years. I simply love Twitter.
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) September 23, 2016
In response to the news Twitter's shares were up 21pc as early morning trading began, the greatest rise in two years, to a market cap of $15.7bn (£12bn).
Twitter has been struggling to reverse a stall in growth. It 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.
Directors at the company apparently floated the idea of a sale at a board meeting earlier this month. At the time reports named technology giants Google, Apple, and Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox or News Corp as potential bidders.
In a bid to bolster its finances, Twitter has also been looking at cost-cutting measures and new features on its site, such as relaxing the famous 140-character limit.
The loss-making business could be worth around $18bn, using the multiple in Microsoft's recent takeover of LinkedIn.
While the news sent Twitter's share price to its highest since January at $22.65, Salesforce was down 3.2pc and Alphabet dipped 0.19pc.
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