Do Republicans’ Children Use TikTok?

Do Republicans’ children use TikTok?

Of course they do. Which is why I think it’s more likely that Microsoft gets to buy the company as opposed to the app being shut down.

Let me catch you up on what’s going on…

This weekend’s episode of my podcast was a deep dive into TikTok and the opportunity for US investors in Chinese technology stocks. Shortly after it came out, the news broke that the White House was in three-way talks concerning a possible acquisition of TikTok by Microsoft. Trump wants the app to be sold to a US company and for the Chinese entity that currently owns it, ByteDance, to be completely divested of any interest in it.

Following a phone call Sunday between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Mr. Trump, the company 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 confirmation 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.

TikTok has over a hundred million US users. If the idea that the government could simply turn it off is inconceivable to you, then take a look at India where this has already happened. My guest on the podcast to talk all things TikTok and Ant Financial is Brendan Ahern of KraneShares. an ETF firm that specializes in Chinese stocks. If you haven’t heard it yet, the Microsoft news gives you an even bigger reason to listen and get up to speed.

Microsoft has vast experience in social media between its acquisition of LinkedIn years ago, its socialization of XBox, its purchase of the developers’ community Github, etc. This deal will put the company into a position where it becomes Facebook’s chief rival overnight.

Read more about the proposed merger and political issues below.

Source:

Microsoft Aims for a Deal to Buy TikTok’s U.S. Business (WSJ)