Twitter could be bought by Salesforce or Google as suitors prepare to make formal bids for the social media company.
The companies, along with other companies in the technology sector, have already made expressions of interest to Twitter, according to CNBC.
A deal is apparently not imminent but could be reached before the end of the year.
The board of the company are apparently keen to reach a deal.
Twitter shares rose over 20 percent on the news.
As of the second quarter of 2016, the microblogging service averaged 313 million monthly active users, according to figures from Statistica.
Twitter has been facing pressures to increase its revenue recently, as it has not achieved the same success in building advertising income as rival social network Facebook.
It has never made a profit, making its long-term future uncertain.
Attempts to make changes to its interface that might facilitate this have met with fierce resistance from users.
In June 2016, Microsoft agreed to buy social networking site LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, in a deal which increased speculation around the future of Twitter.
The all-cash transaction saw LinkedIn retaining its own brand and independence with current CEO Jeff Weiner remaining in his position and reporting directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
The value of Twitter is seen as lying partly in its data as well as its status as a social media platform, according to CNBC.
Salesforce’s digital head, Vala Afshar, tweeted in what he said was a personal capacity why he thought Twitter would be a good buy:
“Why @Twitter?
1 personal learning network
2 the best realtime, context rich news
3 democratize intelligence
4 great place to promote others”.
With regard to a Google buy, it is also worth noting that Google Plus, Google’s own attempt at building a social media site, has not achieved anywhere near the same penetration as Facebook or Twitter.
