Salesforce has been rumored as one of the leading candidates to acquire Twitter over the past week, but CEO Marc Benioff doesn't sound too into the company anymore.
In an analyst meeting held at Dreamforce on Wednesday, Benioff addressed some of the questions related to Twitter buyout rumors, although he didn't flat out deny anything.
"I think it’s a great brand and I just wish Jack [Dorsey] very well...good on his company, that’s how I look at it today," Benioff said.
Benioff did imply that he looked into the possibility of a Twitter deal, calling it an "unpolished jewel" at one point — a remark he reportedly has made in private as well, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"We look at everything, and we don’t buy most things, and we haven’t agreed to buy that company... it’s an unpolished jewel," he said.
Benioff also reiterated that Salesforce has a very "disciplined M&A process," that involves the board and the whole management team, stressing that his company's stock went up most of the time after announcing acquisitions in the past.
"We will think through everything, but we would never do a deal that would ever do the kind of things that I’ve been reading in these emails, OK? I mean the kind of things I’ve been reading in the emails are so extreme, I’m like, Jesus, do they really think that we would do a deal at that level?" Benioff said, possibly referring to emails he's received from analysts questioning the rationale behind a Twitter deal.
Salesforce stock dropped as much as 8% Wednesday after it was reported that Benioff was seriously considering a Twitter acquisition. Twitter stock plunged almost 10% in after hours after it was reported that Google was not interested in buying the company.
