Dive Brief:

• The sale of Twitter seems more imminent by the day, and, according to Bloomberg, Disney is joining Google and Salesforce as a potential suitor.
• Bloomberg reports that Disney and Salesforce are both working with financial advisors in putting together an appealing deal for the micro-blogging platform, which reaches an audience of around 800 million.
• Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey is a board member of Disney, which owns ABC, ESPN and a variety of other major media properties.

Dive Insight:

Twitter’s stock rose 20% Monday morning on the news of a potential acquisition by Disney. While Salesforce and Google make for intuitive buyers given their tech backgrounds, Disney's reported negotiations throw an interesting media component into the mix.

Though Twitter is surpassed by Instagram and Snapchat in active daily users, it has been attempting to right its course through a renewed focus on video, brokering a 10 game package to live stream NFL Thursday Night Football games this season. The platform also has deals in place with every major professional sports organization to stream either games or original content in the future. 

Bloomberg reports that those video capabilities are likely what's making Twitter more appealing to Disney, who owns both ESPN and ABC, especially as younger viewers turn more and more away from linear TV programming in favor of digital streaming.

And despite stagnating growth in recent months, Twitter's existing users are passionate and engaged, giving the platform real-time relevance and making it an attractive takeover target for those looking to connect with its base audience of some 800 million.