WHEN: Today, Friday, September 23rd
WHERE: CNBC's "Squawk on the Street"
Following is the unofficial transcript of breaking news from CNBC's David Faber on "Squawk on the Street" (M-F,. 9AM-11AM ET) today, Friday, September 23rd.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
DAVID FABER: ALL RIGHT. WE'RE GOING TO START OFF WITH BREAKING NEWS THIS MORNING. TWITTER HAS RECEIVED EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FROM A NUMBER OF TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES THAT ARE CONSIDERING WHETHER TO MAKE A BID FOR THE SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANY. AND ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS IS SAID TO BE LARGELY DESIROUS OF A DEAL, ACCORDING TO PEOPLE CLOSE TO THE SITUATION. NO SALE IS EMINENT AND WHILE TWITTER MAY RECEIVE A FORMAL BID SHORTLY, IT HAS THUS FAR ENGAGED IN CONVERSATIONS WITH POTENTIAL SUITORS WHO ARE EXAMINING THE POSSIBILITY OF A DEAL AND TWITTER'S WILLINGNESS TO ENGAGE ON THAT POSSIBILITY. NOW, THOSE SUITORS ARE BELIEVED TO INCLUDE SALESFORCE AND GOOGLE AMONGST OTHER TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES. WHILE THERE IS NO ASSURANCE A DEAL WILL MATERIALIZE, ONE PERSON CLOSE TO THE CONVERSATIONS TOLD ME THEY ARE PICKING UP MOMENTUM AND COULD RESULT IN A DEAL BEFORE YEAR END. TWITTER HAS BEEN STRUGGLING, OF COURSE, TO GENERATE TOP LINE GROWTH. ONLY TODAY THE STOCK HAS BEEN DOWNGRADED BY MARK MAHANEY AT RBC ON CONCERNS ABOUT ITS ABILITY TO BOTH ATTRACT NEW USERS AND GAIN TRACTION AMONGST ADVERTISERS. ALSO INCLUDING, OF COURSE, CONCERNS THAT ITS EBITDA EQUALS ITS STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION AND A TALENT TRAIN AT THE COMPANY. BUT IT DOES APPEAR AT THIS POINT THAT THOSE CONCERNS ARE NOT AT LEAST GETTING IN THE WAY OF THE INTEREST OF POTENTIAL SUITORS WHO ARE SAID TO BE INTERESTED AS MUCH IN THE DATA THAT TWITTER GENERATES AS ITS PLACE AS A MEDIA COMPANY. AGAIN, NOT IMMINENT, GUYS, BUT CERTAINLY WANTED TO GET THAT OUT THERE AFTER COMPLETING MY REPORTING AT THIS POINT. NOT HEARING ANYTHING FROM TWITTER AT THIS POINT. NO REAL COMMENTS FROM THE OTHER COMPANIES.
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