At the same time, it is indicative of how Trump has recently intervened in this matter, Schaake says. Danny Bosker, acquisition expert at accountancy firm KPMG, also says that how the president interferes with the takeover is uncommon, but fits Trump well: “His reaction is very characteristic of how he is as a person.”
The US sees a security risk in TikTok; China could access user data from Americans through its parent company. The company denies that this is the case, but for that reason the US wants parent company ByteDance to part with TikTok’s US activities.
The president has also issued an ultimatum: the popular app will go black on September 15, unless Microsoft or another American party can make a deal with ByteDance before then. So the clock is ticking for everyone involved.
Player of size
Where ByteDance is more or less forced to sell its western success story, it represents an opportunity for Microsoft. The company is big on the business market with cloud services, Windows and its office suite Office 365. With the purchase of TikTok, it instantly becomes a major player in the social media market.
It turned out that the interests are great for the software giant from the blog post that the company published yesterday. In it, the company thanked Trump for its role in the negotiations. The blog is seen as unusual: normally, a company does not speak out about ongoing negotiations. “Microsoft really spawns Trump, you can tell from everything,” says tech expert Marietje Schaake.
The company also promised that the data of American users would be located on American territory and destroyed elsewhere.
The negotiations between TikTok and Microsoft and the fear that the platform will disappear, at least lead to strong emotions among users. TikTokker Sara Dol reacted shocked when she heard of that possibility. She has 2.5 million followers:
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