TikTok REPORTEDLY BRACED, With New Bidder!

TikTok REPORTEDLY BRACED WITH NEW BIDDER IN THE U.S. AS POWERFUL CRITICS TACKLE THE PROCESS

Politically troubled short video app TikTok reportedly braced with a new bidder, The Wall Street Journal reports. According to its report, the subject hot brand – TikTok and Twitter have held talks over a potential merger, even as the company tries to defend itself against pressure emerging from Washington to impose a potential ban or force the sale of the app’s business in the U.S.

But there are concerns over Twitter’s financial capacity to secure TikTok’s U.S. operations. This is based on the fact that TikTok is valued somewhere within the range of $15 billion and $50 billion dollars, which is understood to be pretty high for Twitter, a company with a market capitalization of $29 billion dollars.

The subject app has amassed millions of global users with at least 100 million users in the United States. However, according to The Wall Street Journal, the new bidder has had preliminary talks over a possible merger of TikTok’s U.S. operations with the publicly traded social media company. Noting that the OS giant Microsoft remains the front-runner for TikTok’s business in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as it noted that a potential tip-up with the last bidder – Twitter would just be for TikTok’s North American business.

Considering the pressure from Washington, TikTok reportedly braced with a new bidder shouldn’t be a surprise. Until now, the OS giant and Twitter are the only reported bidders for ByteDance’s TikTok business. Taking a close look at the whole story and how the drama unfolds, it’s evident TikTok could be faced with more bidders before Trump’s ban takes full effect. Trump had last week signed an executive order that would potentially force the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations or face being banned. This means ByteDance is currently left with the option to find a potential buyer or close its U.S. business.

In another dimension, some in China had earlier accused ByteDance CEO of being too accommodating and yielding to Washington pressure and demand. But that seems to have changed as the subject app looks to be on the verge of filling lawsuits aimed at challenging Trump’s executive order, which could also scuttle a potential sale. However, National Public Radio on Saturday reported that TikTok is on the verge to file a lawsuit, which will see the company argue that the executive order from Washington didn’t follow due process and that its underlying argument that the short video app poses a national security threat is baseless.

In view of this, notable figures in the technology industry, such as Bill Gates, have raised concern over the process by which ByteDance is being forced to sell its TikTok business. And in an interview with Wired, Gates responded by saying:

“[Having] Trump kill off the only competitor, it’s pretty bizarre, [The] principle that this is proceeding on is singly strange. The cut thing, that’s doubly strange”.

The latest ban on ByteDance also raised another concern, though Microsoft and ByteDance have been in talks for weeks over a potential stake, however, Trump’s response to reporters did pause their discussions. Lately, Microsoft made it clear that the company is prepared to continue discussions to explore the purchase of TikTok in the U.S.

Is TikTok reportedly braced with Twitter’s bid, also a good one?