Is Satya Nadella a Tiktok thot?
From WSJ - Following a phone call Sunday between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Mr. Trump, Microsoft put out a blog post saying it would move quickly to pursue discussions with TikTok parent ByteDance Ltd. of Beijing and aims to complete the negotiations by Sept. 15. The statement, the software giant’s first confirma-tion it was interested in acquiring TikTok’s U.S. business, said the deal talks also entail the app’s service in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Wow! At first this wouldn’t appear to be a strategic fit for Microsoft, but if they can get it on sale (because Bytedance needs to get it off their Chinese hands ASAP) I don’t think that matters. And you have to wonder too - Satya Nadella is an Indian CEO who is very popular in India, which recently banned Tiktok following growing tensions with China. If Satya Nadella could get TikTok reintroduced into India, he’d not only get 80 million monthly users in the US, but hundreds of millions of potential users in India. So essentially, Microsoft could get the world’s biggest TikTok market (outside of Douyin in China) for free potentially.
One recent survey I saw said that for users under 24, there was more time spent on Tiktok than Instagram. Tiktok has triple digit growth and is projected to do $6B in revenue next year. Not just teenagers doing dance videos anymore.
Only a handful of companies have enough $$$ to buy tiktok, and the most obvious strategic fits of FAANG won’t because of anti trust concerns. I think it does ultimately make sense for Microsoft to acquire American TikTok, they’re getting the fastest growing social media network and one of China’s Crown Jewels at a discount.
What do you all think? Does it make sense for Microsoft to acquire TikTok? Is it a strategic fit? What’s s fair valuation for the American portion of tiktok? Is Bytedances data usage a privacy concern for American users? Is Zoom (also a Chinese company) a privacy concern? Will Chinese and American tech and social media become completely bipolar with no overlap? Does Trump actually have the power to ban tiktok via executive order?
Found this report previously, quite good tbh although 1 year old: https://ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/mtec/chair-of-entrepr…
Now I think the American portion should be bought at a high premium because that's where all the quality thothery comes from
I do think it's a strategic fit. Video is huge. There could be integration with PCs, Xbox (and broader reach to the gaming industry), and gets Microsoft into another part of mobile. It's definitely worth the gamble for MSFT, what else are they going to spend that Azure money on?
My conspiracy theory is that Trump doesn't like Tiktok because he was told that is the platform that organized against his Tulsa rally. That's why he doesn't care if they divest from China. He wants the app gone.
All that plus Nadella didn't get invited to the Antitrust Hearings......he felt left out.
BUMP!
Microsoft buying TikTok, through a fire sale caused by Trump, is the best scenario for the USA and the worst outcome for China.
I do believe Trump wanted to ban TikTok outright at the beginning, for two reasons: 1. It's a Chinese app that could potentially strengthen China's soft power via cultural exportation to the US, thus threatening the US hegemony. 2. Most TikTok users are young liberals who don't like Trump. Remember how they trolled Trump on the Tulsa Rally?
But an outright ban would conflict with the American value of freedom and capitalism. It would show the world how hypocritical the US is for criticizing China for banning Facebook, etc. while doing the exact same thing to TikTok. Actually, it's different, China asked Facebook, Twitter, etc. to abide by Chinese laws of censorship. Facebook didn't want to play by the local Chinese rules and voluntarily withdrew from the Chinese market. TikTok, on the other hand, offered to hire Americans, set up their server in the US, abide all American laws, but is still threatened to be banned, in the name of national security, which is really a bad excuse for banning an app from every single American's phone. So yes, banning outright won't make Trump look too good.
Now we have Microsoft, trying to take advantage of this situation to acquire an app that single-handedly mopped the floor with Facebook, and the US government, aiming to get rid of the Chinese influence while still present itself as the beacon of capitalism. Those two make a perfect partnership. It's funny how Trump was still saying he oppose an American takeover of TikTok last week, but today gave Microsoft until 9/15 to complete the deal.
Art of the deal, well played.
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