Twitter shares tumble after report potential suitors are backing away

Twitter Inc's shares retreated by 20 per cent on Thursday after technology website Recode reported that Alphabet Inc's Google does not "currently" plan to make a bid for the company.

Walt Disney Co.has also decided not to move forward with a bid, while Apple Inc.is unlikely to be a suitor, Recode reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

That leaves Salesforce.com Inc. as the only potential buyer, Recode said, although the cloud-software maker has not confirmed publicly that it wants to make a bid.

• Twitter shares jump more than 21% on report of takeover talks

Salesforcechief executive Marc Benioff told CNBC on Wednesday that Twitter was "an exciting product, but obviously the business has a lot of challenges."

Salesforce's shares rose more thanfourper cent to close at$71.26US.

Twitter's shares fellby $4.99 to end at$19.87.

The company, run by Jack Dorsey, has struggled to generate revenue growth and profit despite having about 313 million average monthly active users.

Twitter has told potential acquirers it wants to conclude negotiations about selling itself by the time it reports third-quarter earnings on Oct. 27, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Up to Wednesday's close, Twitter's stock had risen by about a third since reports emerged in September that the company was in talks with Salesforce.