Twitter trolling and abuse extinguished family-friendly Disney’s potential buyout
Disney executives were reportedly afraid the company's rumoured acquisition of Twitter could tarnish the brand’s family-friendly status as it would have inherited the mammoth task of cleaning up user behavior had it followed through on its initial interest.
According to reports, the brand was well in the (now seemingly subdued) race to acquire the social network which is conducting a Wall Street ad campaign to trump up buyer interest.
Now Bloomberg cites sources “familiar with management’s thinking” stating that Disney’s hesitation to further pursue the social network largely came from its poor image.
Twitter chief executive and co-founder Jack Dorsey serves on Disney’s board, hinting at a relationship between the companies.
Disney retained banks, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Guggenheim Partners LLC, to evaluate a bid, with it valued around $12bn despite failing to make a profit.
The Drum editor, Stephen Lepitak dubbed the task of cleaning up Twitter an "impossible conundrum", delving into Gamergate, Leslie Jones and more.