It seems that the TikTok soap opera continues to take unexpected turns. The last one is a new purchase offer made by the app’s direct competition in the United States.
TikTok has 800 million active users around the world.
TikTok makes its code public and encourages its competitors to do the same
Triller, the short video app that Donald Trump is promoting and trying to popularize, has offered $ 20 billion – € 17 billion – , along with investment firm Centricus Asset Management, for the shares of its rival. According to Reuters , ByteDance – the company that owns TikTok – has denied having knowledge of the offer.
“We submitted an offer directly to the president of ByteDance through Centricus, and we have confirmation that it was received and is being considered by him,” Triller CEO Bobby Sarnevesht told Reuters.
Sarnevesht assured the news agency that this was because “TikTok did not participate in the conversations” and that Triller and Centricus “were dealing directly with the president of ByteDance, Zhang Yiming.” However, Reuters claims ByteDance is also unaware of Triller and Centricus’ offer .
The president has given until September 15 for a “very American” company to buy the Chinese social network.
Keys to the war between China and the US: this is how Trump intends to take over TikTok, the most successful app in the world
True or not, the truth is that the Chinese technology company ‘is running out of time’ , since Trump’s executive order set a mid-September deadline for “a very American company” to buy TikTok. At the moment, it appears that the most serious bidders are Microsoft , Oracle and – somewhat less expected – Walmart.
Triller has 65 million monthly active users , including President Trump, compared to 100 million on TikTok in the United States .
