- A fresh rumor that Carl Icahn is buying a stake in Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) has led shares to rally in spite of a broad market selloff. An Icahn/Twitter rumor also broke out in 2013.
- Yahoo-related speculation might also be helping Twitter's cause. Ex-Yahoo CEO Ross Levinsohn declared on CNBC Twitter should acquire Yahoo's (YHOO) core business - most of the company's market cap is tied to its Alibaba/Yahoo Japan stakes - and SunTrust's Bob Peck offered ten reasons why he thinks a Yahoo/Twitter merger makes sense.
- Among Peck's arguments: Twitter could integrate its display and mobile ad platforms with Yahoo's; both companies claim strong news, sports, finance, and entertainment audiences; Twitter's short-form content could be matched with Tumblr's longer-form material; and Twitter's interest graph data could be paired with Yahoo's demographic data for ad targeting purposes.
- In terms of growth profiles and valuations, Twitter and core Yahoo are very different entities.