Salesforce stock pops again amid Microsoft takeover rumors

Salesforce stock was briefly halted on the New York Stock Exchange today and soon thereafter allowed to continue, CNBC is reporting, following a report today that Microsoft could make a bid on the cloud software company.

The halt around volatility, which also happened last week, came as Bloomberg was reporting today — citing unnamed sources — that Microsoft was considering bidding on Salesforce after Salesforce was approached by another possible buyer.

Last week Bloomberg reported that Salesforce had approached bankers about a possible takeover. Microsoft has been discussed as a potential buyer, alongside Oracle and IBM, and even Google. But today’s report is interesting given rumors of Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff getting together in person in San Francisco last week, with Nadella in town for Microsoft’s developer-oriented Build conference.

Salesforce stock was up by 5 percent after today’s halt. Last week the spike brought the stock up by as much as 12 percent.

Today’s report says Salesforce is working with two banks and that Microsoft is not currently in talks with Salesforce.

Microsoft and Salesforce last year announced a major partnership that has resulted in product integrations.

Microsoft declined to comment. A Salesforce representative did not immediately respond to VentureBeat’s request for comment.