Twitter is trying to sell Vine

Vine may be dead and buried as far as Twitter may be concerned, but according to a new report, there are several buyers that the company is considering for the video site. 

Several sources have apparently spoken to TechCrunch and confirmed that Twitter has narrowed the pool from more than 10 bidders down to around five and is hoping to make a deal soon. The site couldn’t confirm any of the names, but it is believed that several are from Asia including Japanese messaging and gaming company LINE.

Twitter announced last month that it has begun winding down Vine. The site’s archives will be playable for the forseeable future, but Twitter hasn’t made any further announcements about Vine’s future. 

Vine was bought by Twitter for an undisclosed fee in 2012. Offers now are apparently less than $10 million, indicating that Twitter might not generate significant revenue directly from Vine’s sale.

Twitter had hoped that Vine would become the social media world’s default way of sharing short videos, but it instead evolved into an entertainment network without any clear drive or monetary impetus. While Vine has a around 200 million users signed up, the site had been declining for some time and it’s unclear how an acquirer could reverse its fortunes. 

This attempted sale of Vine is the latest in a string of financial failures for Twitter that had previously tried – and failed – to seek acquisition from the likes of The Walt Disney Company and Google parent company Alphabet. 

It had been thought that after initially announcing plans to shut down, selling Vine was off the table but, according to TechCrunch, the outcry from the internet community has boosted the interest of potential acquirers who might be willing to deal with the operation costs of a site that has been losing users and revenue over the past few years. 

Twitter declined to comment.