Twitter Reportedly Planning To Buy TikTok

The bizarre TikTok case in the US has taken a new turn today with Twitter emerging as the newest candidate to buy a short video maker app. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Twitter has held “preliminary talks” with TikTok to merge its business with a Chinese app.

One of the main reasons why Twitter believes it has an edge over Microsoft is the fact that it is comparatively smaller than the manufacturing company Windows, and that will help it attract antitrust scrutiny.

Read More: Bill Gates called Microsoft's TikTok deal a poisoned chalice

However, the fact that Twitter is much smaller in business and economic value could also mean that the social media company may have to borrow large amounts of loans for the deal to come to fruition. Twitter has a market capitalization of $ 29 billion whereas, US TikTok business can cost around tens of billions, and therefore, the chances of a deal are still very long.

From a financial standpoint, Twitter is not in a position to buy into a giant like TikTok because the company led by Jack Dorsey has suffered $ 1.2 billion in losses in the last quarter and a merger with TikTok could be an expensive affair.

Twitter's interest in TikTok may be related to its failure in the short video app niche. In 2012, the social media giant acquired Vine, a short video making app, but failed to make it a success and eventually shut it down four years later.

Twitter isn't the only company showing interest in buying TikTok businesses in the US. Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft are reportedly competing to buy TikTok, but only Microsoft has publicly accepted that it is a “potential” buyer.

Now that President Trump has signed an executive order for a TikTok ban in the US after 45 days if American companies don't buy it, we can expect more offers from other buyers in the remaining days as Chinese companies hope to close the deal soon.

Read More: Trump Says Yes To Microsoft TikTok Deal (T&C Apply)

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