The American microblogging service Twitter and the Chinese social network TikTok are in talks about a possible merger, writes The Wall Street Journal on August 8.
According to the publication, Twitter is only interested in the American segment of TikTok, but its cost can still amount to several tens of billions of dollars. Which casts doubt on the possibility of the deal, since Twitter’s capitalization is about $ 29 billion. At the same time, the market capitalization of another contender for TikTok – Microsoft Corporation – exceeds $ 1.6 trillion.
In early August, US President Donald Trump announced that Microsoft or another American company must buy TikTok by September 15, otherwise the application will be banned in the country.
According to media reports, Microsoft is ready to offer $ 30 billion for the social network, but the owner of TikTok, the Chinese company ByteDance, estimates the application at $ 50 billion.
On August 6, Trump signed the Anti-Threat Decrees from Chinese applications.
According to the documents, within 45 days, any transactions in the American jurisdiction with the Chinese companies ByteDance and Tencent, the owners of the TikTok and WeChat applications, must be terminated.