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Microsoft Is Said to Be in Talks to Buy TikTok in U.S. - Bloomberg

3liteDragon

Member

Microsoft Corp. is exploring an acquisition of TikTok’s operations in the U.S., according to a person familiar with the matter. A deal would give the software company a popular social-media site and relieve U.S. government pressure on the Chinese owner of the video-sharing app.

The Trump administration has been weighing whether to direct China-based ByteDance Ltd.to divest its stake in TikTok’s U.S. operations, according to several people familiar with the matter. The U.S. has been investigating potential national security risks due to the Chinese company’s control of the app.

While the administration was prepared to announce an order as soon as on Friday, according to three people familiar with the matter, another person said later that the decision was on hold, pending further review by President Donald Trump. All of the people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deliberations are private.

Microsoft is in talks to purchase TikTok’s U.S. operations, according to the person who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Spokespeople for Microsoft and TikTok declined to comment. The software company’s interest in the app was reported earlier by Fox Business News.


“We are looking at TikTok. We may be banning TikTok,” Trump told reporters Friday at the White House. “We are looking at a lot of alternatives with respect to TikTok.”

Any transaction will face many regulatory hurdles. In recent years, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which investigates overseas acquisitions of U.S. businesses, has taken a much more aggressive role in reviewing and approving deals that may threaten national security.

A purchase of TikTok would represent a huge coup for Microsoft, which would gain a popular consumer app that has won over young people with a steady diet of dance videos, lip-syncing clips and viral memes. Microsoft has dabbled in social-media investments in the past, but has never developed a popular service of its own in this lucrative sector.


TikTok has repeatedly rejected accusations that it feeds user data to China or is beholden to Beijing, even though ByteDance is based there. TikTok now has a U.S.-based chief executive officer and ByteDance has considered making other organizational changes to satisfy U.S. authorities.

“Hundreds of millions of people come to TikTok for entertainment and connection, including our community of creators and artists who are building livelihoods from the platform,” a TikTok spokeswoman said Friday. “We’re motivated by their passion and creativity, and committed to protecting their privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform.”

ByteDance bought Musical.ly Inc. in 2017 and merged it with TikTok, creating a social-media hit in the U.S -- the first Chinese app to make such inroads.

As TikTok became more popular, U.S. officials grew concerned about the potential for the Chinese government to use the app to gain data on U.S. citizens. CIFUS, which investigates overseas acquisitions of U.S. businesses, began a review in 2019 of ByteDance’s purchase of Musical.ly.

On Thursday, U.S. Senators Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, and Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, wrote the Justice Department asking for an investigation of whether TikTok has violated the constitutional rights of Americans by sharing private information with the Chinese government.

A deal with Microsoft could potentially help extract ByteDance from the political war between the U.S. and China.
 
So is TikTok going to make GAAS games that revolve around making dumb short clips?

I hope Game Pass will include TikTok. Service seller.
 
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Infamy v1

Member
You do know that Microsoft isn't only gaming right?

How is TikTok any less fitting than things like Linkedin?
Exactly.

And the funny thing is LinkedIn was worth like 26bil or something and ever since the acquisition it's been printing money for them plus allowed to be run the way it was without corporate changes, similar to GitHub.

But I wouldnt doubt clueless forum dwellers to actually know about this 😂
 
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cryptoadam

Banned
Like LinkedIn?

A broken clock is right twice a day.

I was thinking more along the lines of Nokia and Windows phone.

But if it was bought by google that would of killed it in 6 months though.

If Apple bought it they would charge 99.99 per video.

And if Sony bought it they would use the power of the SSD to load your videos 10 times faster.
 
Why is this on here we know Microsoft is 1 of the richest company in the world they can buy just about anything they want but this is a gaming forum so stick with gaming news.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
MS buying that Chinese data farm app?

they were the first people to step up and help the government spy on it's own people.

so yeah this is not surprising at all.
 
HLAldms.gif
 

Kagoshima_Luke

Gold Member
I just started blocking Tik Tok in all areas I could, due to the constant battering I was getting from all angles with stupid video ads. Also, I don't feel like welcoming in our new Chinese overlords just yet.
 

oagboghi2

Member
Exactly.

And the funny thing is LinkedIn was worth like 26bil or something and ever since the acquisition it's been printing money for them plus allowed to be run the way it was without corporate changes, similar to GitHub.

But I wouldnt doubt clueless forum dwellers to actually know about this 😂
Let's stack up MS history is acquisitions, or we can pretend everything MS touches turn to gold like you do apparently
 
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Infamy v1

Member
Let's stack up MS history is acquisitions, or we can pretend everything MS touches turn to gold like you do apparently

Go ahead, stack them up, along with the amount they spent on said acquisitions. I never said everything they touch turns to gold, but that's what you get when you see what you want to see and make a knee jerk reaction.

Try looking up their acquisitions under Satya compared to Ballmer and see the disparity. My point was about LinkedIn/Github, which have been huge, and TikTok would be just as big.
 

Bkdk

Member
Hopefully they will include selling off 343i and ninja theory in this purchase. Time to get rid of some bad studios in the process.
 
Microsoft buying TikTok makes no sense to their portfolio. Facebook is a more likely buyer as TikTok is a social network and that slots right in with FB/Instagram/Whatsapp.
I was thinking the same thing! MS has LinkedIn but that's business based social. Tiktok would be better with snap, fb can eat a dick imo.
 

Entroyp

Member
RIP TikTok lol.. now give ninja another 30 millions to create content for a year.
 
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TikTok will cause the extinction of humanity (which is overdue at this point), so good to see a proper corporation doing their part and getting behind that shit.
 

Kdad

Member
You do know that Microsoft isn't only gaming right?

How is TikTok any less fitting than things like Linkedin?
Because they just bailed from social media with mixer. Linked in is targeted to thier business users who make up the vast majority of thier profits...it absolutely dovetails with thier position as the one stop business solution.
 
Sweet! Maybe Forza Horizon 5 will have Tik-Tok videos playing after races along with the chicken suits, dancing and skinny jeans they shoehorned into 4!

I really hope I didn't just give Playground any ideas.
 
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