Twitter has told potential acquirers it is seeking to conclude negotiations about selling itself by the time it reports third-quarter earnings on Oct. 27. Twitter began mulling a sale only last month, so if the Reuters' report is true, it means that Chief Executive Jack Dorsey is pushing to provide clarity to shareholders and employees over the company's future as quickly as possible.

Twitter has already whittled down the field of potential acquirers, the people said this week. Salesforce.com is in the running, while Google parent Alphabe, and Walt Disney Co have also been contemplating bids. Recode reported on Wednesday, citing sources it did not identify, that Google would not move forward with a bid to acquire Twitter.

With Salesforce.com, Twitter might turn its focus to customer service communications and mining its database of tweets for business intelligence. Google would likely be most interested in the social and news dimensions of Twitter. Disney, by contrast, might see it as a way to expand the reach of its sports and entertainment programming.

Twitter has struggled to generate revenue growth and profit, despite having some 313 million average monthly active users and a growing presence as a source of news. The company has also failed to keep pace with rivals, notably Facebook's Instagram and Snapchat.