Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok has been in the center of talks recently after US President Donald Trump ordered US companies to stop doing business with it and gave TikTok 45 days’ notice to stop operating in the US unless they are sold.
Tech giant Microsoft was the front runner for buying TikTok from its current owner Chinese internet technology company ByteDance. However, Twitter also expressed interest in buying the video platform’s US operations.
It is still unclear whether Twitter can afford it the deal or will be able to complete within the 45-day time frame. Microsoft is valued at over $1.6 trillion while Twitter is only at $29 billion. It is still unclear how much the deal will be worth but experts estimate TikTok’s operations at tens of billions of dollars.
The Trump Administration issued two executive orders last week giving US companies 45 days’ notice to stop dealing with TikTok and WeChat, a Chinese messaging platform owned by Tencent. Trump alleges that the Chinese government has access to user data collected through the TikTok app.
It can’t be controlled, for security reasons, by China. Too big, too invasive and it can’t be. And here’s the deal, I don’t mind whether it’s Microsoft or someone else, a big company, a secure company, very American company buy it.
Trump also said that if a deal is made, the US Treasury would get a lot of money without explaining how that would work.
TikTok has repeatedly denied the allegations and has threatened legal action against the US. Tencent said that they are reviewing the executive order to gain better understanding.
Tencent is also a leading gaming company with 40% stake in Epic Games, which made the infamous Fortnite video game.
Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
