Are you really even a tech company if you haven’t explored acquiring TikTok?
UPDATE: Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey is now following TikTok Comms on Twitter. TikTok US twitter handle now follows Twitter support.
👥 @jack is now following @tiktok_comms
— Big Tech Alert (@BigTechAlert) August 19, 2020
👥 @tiktok_us is now following @TwitterSupport
— Big Tech Alert (@BigTechAlert) August 18, 2020
Looks like Microsoft isn’t the only tech giant that wants TikTok. According to the latest report by the WSJ, TikTok may have held preliminary talks about a possible combination.
According to the sources familiar with the matter, Twitter was seen as a long shot bidder as it has a market cap of $29 billion compared to Microsoft’s $1.6 trillion and wouldn’t attract as much anti-trust scrutiny.
However, the social media giant has less financial power. Its entire cap is less than the potential sale price which is rumoured to be between $10 and $30 billion. The company reported that it had $7.8 billion in cash while Microsoft has $136 billion. This would call for help from its investors and raise additional capital to fund the deal if it intends to buy TikTok.
“If Twitter tries to put together an investor group, the terms will be tough. Twitter’s own shareholders might prefer that management focus on its existing business,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan.
However, Silver Lake, one of Twitter’s shareholders is interested in helping fund a potential deal.
On Friday this week(feels like it has been a month), Trump signed an executive order that prohibit US residents from doing business with TikTok and WeChat. Both of these orders will take effect in 45 days.
Several legal experts who spoke with Business Insider said there’s no simple way to impose an outright ban. Othe routes the administration can take are fraught with concerns about violating First Amendment rights and questions of how effective they would actually be in blocking TikTok.
This came few days after Facebook officially rolled out Reels, its TikTok clone in the US and more countries worldwide.
Twitter had Vine which it brought for $30 million which then got shut down in 2016.
Here are some of the best reactions from Twitter
It turns out that killing Vine was a very expensive mistake https://t.co/hO3cRuw0K7
— Sarah Frier (@sarahfrier) August 8, 2020
Finally! Twitter could have its own Vine! *stares at camera with sarcasm* https://t.co/isY9itkwWv
— Brittlestar (@brittlestar) August 9, 2020
Oh wow maybe Twitter could limit TikTok videos to 6 seconds and then slowly throttle it into non-existence https://t.co/x7yiNE8fdp
— Alex Zalben (@azalben) August 8, 2020
Twitter looking to aquire and kill any and all short term video services out there. https://t.co/BbGnk1oO5b
— Zach Halverson (@ZachHalverson) August 8, 2020
This would be quite the make-up deal after losing out on Instagram, squandering Vine, and arguably not doing enough with Periscope https://t.co/YIALeF48jH
— Adam Besvinick (@Besvinick) August 8, 2020
Imagine Twitter had a short form video app that people loved https://t.co/qV2UYWFzkw
— Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) August 8, 2020
Is there such a thing as Occam's Razor for M&A?
Like if one deal if a cash rich company writing a giant check, and another option is Jack Dorsey holding up a "Help w/financing?" sign on Market Street, then…? https://t.co/5x8RhP7fON
— Shira Ovide (@ShiraOvide) August 8, 2020
Are you really even a tech company if you haven’t explored acquiring TikTok?
— Aaron Levie (@levie) August 9, 2020
