Rupert Murdoch, who appears to be a big Twitter fan, wanted to own the service, or so the rumors went.
On Wednesday, CNBC helped spread the info and Twitter’s share price began to soar. The stock climbed as much 14 percent to $19.04 in midday trading. The shares closed at $17.38, up 4 percent.
The only problem was that the rumor was false. In interviews with Re/code and other news outlets, a News Corp. spokesman denied an acquisition of the social-networking site was in the works.
It’s understandable how the rumor might have hooked some investors. It made sense and it was juicy. Twitter is an ad-supported media company, a business which Murdoch, one of the world’s richest media tycoons, understands. Twitter is a service Murdoch apparently enjoys using. He’s a prolific poster of tweets. It would have been News Corp’s biggest tech acquisition since the ill-fated takeover of MySpace in 2005. And lastly, with Twitter’s share price approaching new lows, the company was a lot more affordable.
In the past three months, Twitter’s share price fell 43 percent and since last April the price has tumbled 67 percent, according to The Wall Street Journal. The downturn follows the company’s struggles to attract new users and turn a profit.
