Twitter shares plunge as Google bid rumours falter

Twitter's share price has lost almost a fifth of its value in early US trading as takeover speculation subsides.

The sell-off began after technology news website Recode reported that Disney and Google-owner Alphabet were not bidding for the messaging service.

It said the information came from sources close to the situation.

Rumours have been circling for weeks that Twitter, which has never made an annual profit, was putting itself up for sale as it continues to battle weak user growth.

Recode added it had been told that Apple was not interested either.

Other unconfirmed parties who are said to be mulling their positions include business cloud software firm, Salesforce and Microsoft.

None of the companies linked to Twitter interest have given public statements to confirm any talks.

Twitter stock jumped last month when news of bid interest first emerged.

But it fell 19% to just above $20 per share when the New York Stock Exchange opened on Thursday - giving it a market value of $14.3bn.

It floated at $26 per share.

Co-founder Jack Dorsey, who returned as chief executive last year, has tried to broaden Twitter's appeal through the buy-up of sports rights and through innovation of its messaging service.

But the number of users has stagnated at 310 million for several quarters - compared to 1.6 billion for Facebook.

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