SunTrust Downgrades Twitter, Yahoo: Here's A Timeline Of Recent Buyout Speculation

Following Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)’s massive $26 billion buyout of LinkedIn Corp (NYSE: LNKD), shareholders of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) seemed convinced buyout deals for each company were imminent. So far, they have both gotten nothing but more speculation.

SunTrust analyst Bob Peck lost his patience with the two stocks earlier this week and downgraded both to Neutral. Why? In all likelihood, it’s because of the same reasons both companies weren’t acquired a long time ago. Both companies have struggled to define a clear vision for the future and both companies are suffering from stagnant growth.

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M&A chatter has certainly heated up last month, but so far, neither company has closed a deal. Here’s a timeline of buyout-related headlines for the two companies since the beginning of June.

Timeline

• June 3: NY Post reported Twitter and Yahoo discussed a potential merger but are now no longer interested in a deal.
• June 7: Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) reportedly bid $3 billion for Yahoo’s core assets.
• June 7: Benzinga reported unconfirmed market chatter that AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) could make a surprise bid for Yahoo.
• June 9: CNBC reported Yahoo received multiple bids at or above $5 billion and Verizon’s more than $3.5 billion bid was among the lower bids. CNBC reported bidding will conclude by mid-July.
• June 10: Bloomberg reported AT&T and Dan Gilbert each offered $5 billion for Yahoo.
• June 13: Reuters reported Verizon, AT&T and Dan Gilbert are entering the final round of Yahoo bidding.
• June 13: Recode speculated Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) could be buyers for Twitter.
• June 20: TechCrunch mentioned Google as a potential Twitter buyer.

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Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.