Microsoft would pay US $ 30 billion to close the purchase of TikTok before the end of the month

08/05/2020 - 15:52

• Clarín.com
• Technology

The fight for the sale of TikTok to a company in the United States has an expiration date: September 15 . However, according to reports, Microsoft wants to buy it within the next three weeks and could pay up to 30 billion dollars.

The company founded by Bill Gates already has everything arranged with the Donald Trump administration, as CNBC published this Wednesday , and the key intermediary is the US Secretary of the Treasury, Steve Mnuchin. And although the price is not closed, the range that is handled is between 10 and 30 billion dollars.

Mnuchin's participation is related to what Trump had said: since last Friday, he warned, first, that he would ban TikTok in the United States . Then, he said that a North American company would have to buy it from ByteDance , the Chinese owner of the application. And in that operation, he explained, the United States Treasury "should have a stake" , something that still does not know what it would be like (or whether it is entirely legal).

Steven Mnuchin, United States Treasurer, involved in the negotiations. (EFE)

Microsoft is a key company to buy TikTok for at least three reasons. Firstly, because not only do you have the money, but you also have the resources to transfer the impressive amounts of data that would have to be migrated from TikTok to your servers.

The TikTok source code is estimated at around 15 million lines of artificial intelligence , which means that you have to have the technical back to support the purchase, not just the money.

Secondly, Microsoft is not in the "bench": it is the only great technology that was left out of the hearings in which Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon had to give explanations for monopolistic practices. And finally, it is a 100% North American company , with American culture and values: something not less in the Trump ecosystem.

Microsoft confirmed in a blog post on Sunday that it held talks with TikTok's China parent ByteDance to buy its business in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. That is why it is the “natural” buyer in this process.

The truth is that September 15 is the " deadline ". If the situation is not resolved before that date, Trump confirmed that he will ban TikTok in the United States, under the idea that being in the orbit of Chinese capitals is not reliable to guarantee national security.

TikTok CEO resists: "Trump wants to suffocate us"

Zhang Yiming, CEO and founder of ByteDance

Zhang Yiming, founder and CEO of ByteDance wrote a message to his employees on Tuesday with a categorical message insisting that Trump wants to suffocate his company for being Chinese.

The billionaire businessman recounted in the email that there was an investigation into the purchase of Musical.ly in 2017 - the forerunner of TikTok - in which the United States intended to cause a "total closure", according to Bloomberg published .

While mounting tensions between the United States and China led American politicians to warn that the app posed a potential threat to national security and call for an investigation into whether US user data was shared with Beijing, the reality is that nothing of this could be proved.

ByteDance's position is quite awkward: The Chinese company was totally pressured by the White House and US politics, with Donald Trump at the helm.

As Zhang wrote in the letter, he has no "remedy" but to comply with the law. “But this is not their goal (the purchase), not even what they want. Their real goal is to achieve a comprehensive ban , ”he complained.

In another letter, Zhang said ByteDance is "exploring all possibilities to resolve an increasingly intense confrontation with Washington."

And he clarified that, despite Trump's deadline, "a final decision" on the options on the table has not yet been made.

TikTok, at the center of the controversy over Trump. (AFP)

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