Apple has considered purchasing TikTok, a video-sharing social networking service that's currently owned by the Bejing-based company ByteDancce, according to Axios' Dan Primack.
Sources told Primack that Apple has expressed "serious interest" in buying TikTok. Although the details of the purchase, for example, how much would Apple spent on it, are not clear, however, it's possible that this may mark its largest-ever acquisition by far, exceeding that of Beats deal valued in a whopping $3 billion.
Multiple sources tell me that Apple has expressed interest, albeit no sources inside of Apple, and that at least one other strategic has expressed interest. Yes, it would be an unusual deal for Apple, given that TikTok is a cross-platform app, and a bigger political headache than Tim Cook may want (both here and in China). But if anyone has the cash on hand...
Microsoft has also confirmed that it is negotiating with ByteDance, and if a deal has been reached, President Donald Trump said on Monday that U.S. Treasury should receive a "substantial amount of money" from the proposed sale, as he claimed he will issue an order to shut down TikTok in the United States unless it finds an American buyer by September 15.
TikTok has been facing the banning threat following U.S. officials warned that the platform poses a national risk because of the personal data it handles, referring to the evidence that Chinese law can request any domestic company to hand over each collected user data.
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