This is really a fast moving story. Just when it seemed like TikTok was going to forced to divest its US assets by President Trump, then Microsoft started to talk about buying those assets, only to blocked by President Trump who was talking up an outright ban of TikTok which stopped Microsoft cold, it now seems that after talking to Trump, discussions are back on again:
Microsoft said Sunday it will continue talks to buy short-form video app TikTok after its chief executive spoke with President Donald Trump, following a weekend of uncertainty clouding the future of the China-owned app.
Microsoft said in a blog post that chief executive Satya Nadella and Trump had spoken and that the company is committed to addressing Trump’s concerns about the social media platform. Trump previously indicated he was not in favor of a deal and stated he planned to ban TikTok in the United States.
He had also been weighing options over the past few days to force Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to divest in TikTok in the U.S. due to national security concerns, according to people familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them publicly.
Microsoft confirmed it will “move quickly” on discussions with ByteDance and said it has given the U.S. government notice of a possible acquisition of the U.S. assets of TikTok.
This the first time Microsoft has confirmed that the company is in talks for Microsoft to purchase TikTok operations in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
“This new structure would build on the experience TikTok users currently love, while adding world-class security, privacy, and digital safety protections,” the tech giant said in its post.
Perhaps Trump figured out that he could not actually ban TikTok as perhaps he’s received advice that the executive order that he said he was going to sign yesterday would be taken out in a court very quickly. Or perhaps he’s now afraid of the blowback from China as the US has a bit of a cold war of sorts with China at the moment on a variety of fronts. Or it could be that Microsoft buying them is the best option as it would take the app out of Chinese hands. Whatever the reason this is the latest plot twist in a story that seems to have more twists than a climb in the French Alpes. Stay tuned. This is far from over.
BREAKING: Microsoft Restarts Discussions To Buy TikTok
Posted in Commentary with tags TikTok on August 2, 2020 by itnerdThis is really a fast moving story. Just when it seemed like TikTok was going to forced to divest its US assets by President Trump, then Microsoft started to talk about buying those assets, only to blocked by President Trump who was talking up an outright ban of TikTok which stopped Microsoft cold, it now seems that after talking to Trump, discussions are back on again:
Microsoft said Sunday it will continue talks to buy short-form video app TikTok after its chief executive spoke with President Donald Trump, following a weekend of uncertainty clouding the future of the China-owned app.
Microsoft said in a blog post that chief executive Satya Nadella and Trump had spoken and that the company is committed to addressing Trump’s concerns about the social media platform. Trump previously indicated he was not in favor of a deal and stated he planned to ban TikTok in the United States.
He had also been weighing options over the past few days to force Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to divest in TikTok in the U.S. due to national security concerns, according to people familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them publicly.
Microsoft confirmed it will “move quickly” on discussions with ByteDance and said it has given the U.S. government notice of a possible acquisition of the U.S. assets of TikTok.
This the first time Microsoft has confirmed that the company is in talks for Microsoft to purchase TikTok operations in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
“This new structure would build on the experience TikTok users currently love, while adding world-class security, privacy, and digital safety protections,” the tech giant said in its post.
Perhaps Trump figured out that he could not actually ban TikTok as perhaps he’s received advice that the executive order that he said he was going to sign yesterday would be taken out in a court very quickly. Or perhaps he’s now afraid of the blowback from China as the US has a bit of a cold war of sorts with China at the moment on a variety of fronts. Or it could be that Microsoft buying them is the best option as it would take the app out of Chinese hands. Whatever the reason this is the latest plot twist in a story that seems to have more twists than a climb in the French Alpes. Stay tuned. This is far from over.
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