This morning, we learned that TikTok CEO, Kevin Mayer had quit, after being excluded from sale talks with Microsoft and Oracle. Now we’re learning that the sale could be final within the next 48 hours, probably to Microsoft.
This reporting comes from CNBC, and says that the sale will likely be to Microsoft. Though there is the chance that it could change. Considering there are a number of names in the hat for buying TikTok right now. Including Alphabet.
Mayer was left out of the talks, due to ByteDance’s previous relationship with Microsoft
The reasoning behind Mayer being left out is a bit odd. But according to multiple sources, it appears that the reasoning is that TikTok and ByteDance had relationships with Microsoft, before Mayer took over as CEO in May.
The relationship started when TikTok was working with Microsoft about potentially switching from Google Cloud to Microsoft Azure for storing all of its data.
That’s a bit of an odd reason to leave the CEO out of talks to sell the app. But we will likely never know the real reason that Mayer was left out.
What was likely the bigger reason was that Mayer wanted to run a large, powerful company, rather than a division that’s part of a large tech company. Which is what Mayer would be doing if he stayed and TikTok does get sold to Microsoft. Mayer would have stayed if a group of investors had purchased TikTok, and not a big tech company.
A pending sale is a good thing for TikTok
President Trump has been pretty serious about banning TikTok in the US. As tensions between the US and China get even tougher. But a sale of TikTok to a US company, would keep the app available in the US, and also keep the data in the US.
The biggest reason TikTok is having such a hard time in the US is because it was keeping all user data on servers in China, which reportedly, the government has access to all of the servers in the country. And that’s not a good thing. TikTok has changed that, but being owned by a Chinese company still doesn’t sit well with a lot of people.
India already banned the app, due to the tensions on the Indian/Chinese border. Where Chinese military has killed a number of Indian soldiers. That was a big blow to TikTok, as India was by far its largest market, and the US is its second largest, so if it got banned in the US, the app would pretty much be dead.