Dive Brief:

• Google has been interested in Twitter since its inception, according to a MediaPost article, and that acquisition has never been more within reach — it's so close, in fact, Google reportedly hired an outside firm to evaluate the deal.
• Over the past month, Google and Salesforce, and then later Disney, have all been rumored to be interested in buying the micro-blogging platform, which has tried to turn around a sluggish year with expansions into live streaming video through media partnerships with Bloomberg TV and the NFL. 
• Bloomberg reported that Lazard Inc. is the firm Google is using to vet a potential deal, and that Lazard previously served as the financial advisor for Google’s takeover of software development firm Apigee in September, a deal worth $625 million.

Dive Insight:

Last week, when there were rumblings of Disney's potential Twitter buy, stocks for the micro-blogging platform jumped 20% — a jolted financial interest that follows a year where Twitter consistently failed to meet Wall Street expectations.

Now, Google rises to the top of the acquisition rumor mill, but its interest in the company perhaps makes the most sense, especially given that it's eyed Twitter for years, per MediaPost.   

The acquisition of Twitter obviously means different things for each of the suitors, but Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, is likely interested in bringing an established social media platform into its fold after multiple in-house failures, including Google+ and Buzz.

Twitter may not be a financial powerhouse — Sir Martin Sorrel of WPP, which spends hundreds of millions on Twitter annually, noted in a talk last month that it bleeds money — but it remains a formidable social media establishment, and the go-to platform for real-time reactions to news and live events like sports.

Throughout 2016, Twitter's revamped itself to be more appealing and accessible to both users and marketers, adding new advertising options like native app install campaigns, video streaming deals with every major professional sports organization and even tweaks to its iconic 140-character limit.