Twitter has not had it easy over the past couple of years. From the flat growth of new users to a torrential storm of abusive tweets, the social network has been dragged through the mud a fair few times.

But now, things are starting to look optimistic, as it’s been widely reported that Twitter is going up for sale with some interesting companies looking to buy…

Who are these companies? Why would they want to purchase a social network in an almost purgatorial state? Let’s take a look.