Twitter has had preliminary discussions about a “combination” with TikTok, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that San Francisco-based Twitter had preliminary talks about a potential combination with TikTok, the popular video-sharing app, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the Journal, it was unclear whether Twitter will pursue a deal with TikTok, which would face significant challenges.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Thursday blocking all U.S. transactions with TikTok’s Chinese parent corporation, ByteDance, the latest move by the administration to force the video-sharing app to sever its ties to Beijing.
The order, which is likely to face legal challenges, would bar “any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd” in an effort to “address the national emergency with respect to the information and communication technology supply chain.”
The president signed a separate executive order banning transactions with China-based tech giant Tencent, which owns the app WeChat, citing similar national security concerns.
He claims the apps “capture vast swaths of information from its users” which could allow “the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.”
Microsoft, the only company so far to publicly acknowledge it was in talks with TikTok owner ByteDance for a possible acquisition. The Wall Street Journal says Twitter would be considered a long-shot in a bid for TikTok, with Microsoft the likely front runner in any deal. Twitter is much smaller than Microsoft, and The Wall Street Journal’s sources say the social platform could be likely to face less antitrust scrutiny than Microsoft. But Twitter also doesn’t have as much money as the software giant for a possible purchase.
Microsoft said in an August 2nd blog post that its CEO Satya Nadella had spoken to President Trump about a possible TikTok acquisition, which would include TikTok operations in the US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Microsoft said it expected its talks to wrap by September 15th.
