DHAKA: Shares in Twitter jumped more than 20% after a report said the home of the 140-character tweet had received takeover approaches.

Twitter, which has been the subject of takeover rumours before, is getting closer to a sale, according to the US business news channel CNBC.

Potential suitors include Google and Salesforce.com, the report said.

Twitter’s board of directors is open to a deal, which could come by the end of the year, according to CNBC.

Last month Twitter shares jumped after comments from co-founder Ev Williams.

When asked on Bloomberg TV whether the company could remain independent he replied: “We're in a strong position now, and as a board member we have to consider the right options”.

The $26bn purchase of the social network LinkedIn by Microsoft has helped to stoke speculation about the future of Twitter.

The company’s flagging performance has also spurred talk of a takeover.

Twitter has never made a profit and sales growth has been slowing in recent quarters.

In July, Twitter reported that second quarter sales had risen almost 20%, the weakest growth since its stock market flotation in 2013.

BDST: 1143 HRS, SEP 24, 2016
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