$Twitter(TWTR)$ NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Twitter (TWTR) closed up 7.04% to $18.09 on heavy trading volume Friday as Japan's Softbank (SFTBY) is considering a bid for the social media company, Barron's reports.

Twitter shares began surging last month when Salesforce.com (CRM), Walt Disney Co. (DIS) and Alphabet (GOOGL) each expressed interest in the company.

The companies have since backed out, and Twitter may now face a major restructuring that involves cutting some of its nearly 4,000 employees.

Softbank earlier this year agreed to purchase semiconductor company ARM Holdings (ARMH) for $32.1 billion.

About 54.09 million shares of Twitter traded today vs. the 30-day average volume of 42.30 shares.

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