Twitter victim of hoax sale report

Twitter stock briefly rose Tuesday because of a hoax story saying that the company was in talks to be bought.

The story purported to be from Bloomberg News and has since been taken down, according to MarketWatch. The story said Twitter had received a $31 billion takeover offer.

{mosads}The article was posted to a page designed to look like Bloomberg’s main, business-centered website. But it was hosted at Bloomberg.market, not Bloomberg.com.

The news service quickly debunked the story.

“The story was fake and appeared on a bogus website that was not affiliated with Bloomberg,” said spokesman Ty Trippet.

Twitter shares rose more than 8 percent in light of the report. Rumors about a sale circulated on social media and were reportedly referenced on television.

Twitter declined to comment, as did the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The owner of the site hid its registration information behind a proxy in the WHOIS database. The registration was created last Friday.

Investors have been looking warily at Twitter because of the firm’s recent disappointing revenue numbers. The social network has struggled to attract new users, raising concerns about its future.

CEO Dick Costolo left in June and was replaced by co-founder Jack Dorsey.