TikTok is supposedly running out of time in the United States, with the President of the United States threatening to ban the popular video app if a particular deadline is not met.
That deadline is a sale of a portion of TikTok’s business from its parent company, the China-based ByteDance. The president has said that if a sale of TikTok is not completed by September 15, then he will ban the app from the United States. We recently reported that Microsoft is moving forward with discussions with ByteDance, and those talks have been going on for weeks already, and it appears that Microsoft is leading the charge in acquiring TikTok to keep it running in the U.S..
But, what about Apple? Well, according to a new report from Axios, Apple is indeed interested in acquiring TikTok.
As we report in Axios Pro Rata today, Apple has expressed serious interest in buying TikTok. https://t.co/M0tmyoONui
— Dan Primack (@danprimack) August 4, 2020
The report says that Apple has “expressed interest” in buying TikTok. That information was shared by “multiple sources”, but none of those sources work within Apple. The report also indicates that another major company is probably exploring options to acquire TikTok as well, so, with all these companies involved, it’s possible that ByteDance is fielding offers for millions of dollars at this point.
Worth the headache?
However, as noted in the report, there is some question as to whether or not Apple would actually want to get involved with this particular situation. This would cause plenty of headaches along the way, and TikTok is a cross-platform app that would probably have to remain a cross-platform app to remain relevant.
But, what’s more, TikTok’s monetization efforts basically rely on advertising — a position that Apple has fought against for years. Acquiring TikTok to keep the video social network running would require a change in strategy for Apple, essentially switching to an ad-based revenue stream for one of its apps, or finding a new way to recoup that money. (Though, it’s not like Apple doesn’t show ads for its own products these days. Just load up a show or movie on Apple TV+ and enjoy the initial trailer for more content before it starts.)
Of course, Apple has a lot of money. Even during a global pandemic the company continues to see impressive quarterly results. But this particular acquisition might not be worth the headache.
What do you think? Should Apple pick up TikTok? Or should the company bow out of this acquisition race and let another company take on the potential issues? Let us know in the comments.