Twitter Held 'Preliminary Talks' About Acquiring TikTok's U.S. Operations

Amid an impending ban on U.S. operations of TikTok, Twitter has expressed interest in acquiring the service, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.

twitter

The report explains that it is not immediately obvious why Twitter is interested in purchasing TikTok, given the cost of acquisition and the need for substantial restructuring. Twitter's comparatively small size would, however, likely please antitrust investigators.

Twitter has a market capitalization of around $30 billion, which is almost as much as the valuation of TikTok's available assets, and would need to raise substantial additional capital. Twitter is therefore thought to be unable to finance a large enough bid to displace Microsoft as the front-runner, particularly before the deadline to complete a sale set out by President Trump.

Private equity company Silver Lake, a major Twitter shareholder, is said to be interested in helping to fund a deal. Twitter declined to comment to The Wall Street Journal.

In spite of the talks, Microsoft is still believed to be the front-runner in negotiations to purchase TikTok. Twitter has apparently made the case that its bid would be preferable to Microsoft's since it would not face any pressure from China since it has no current business in that country, unlike Microsoft.

The discussions between TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance and Microsoft are supposed to complete no later than September 15, and negotiations are still preliminary. Microsoft has said that it will not provide a further update until there is a definitive outcome.

Twitter previously acquired the short-form video sharing app "Vine" in 2012, but eventually closed the service four years later. TikTok operates similarly to Vine, and comparisons are often drawn between the services.

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Friday that set about banning any U.S. transactions with Chinese tech companies, and expressed his will to ban TikTok if it was not acquired by a U.S. company. TikTok is now reportedly planning to sue the Trump administration as soon as Tuesday, in a direct challenge to the president's executive order.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
macbook pro blue green

M5 MacBook Pro No Longer Coming in 2025

Thursday July 10, 2025 12:38 pm PDT by
Apple does not plan to refresh any Macs with updated M5 chips in 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are now planned for the first half of 2026. Gurman previously said that Apple would debut the M5 MacBook Pro models in late 2025, but his newest report suggests that Apple is "considering" pushing them back to 2026. Apple is now said to be...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says iPhone Driver's Licenses Will Expand to These 8 U.S. States

Tuesday July 8, 2025 11:26 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states, Puerto Rico,...
iPhone 17 Air Colors Thumb 2

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air Rumored to Come in These 9 Colors

Friday July 11, 2025 12:30 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be available in a total of nine color options, according to new information coming out of Asia. The iPhone 17 Air's expected color options. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean blog Naver, accessory manufacturers are now producing camera protector rings for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air in colors to match their...

Top Rated Comments

swm Avatar
64 months ago
on the other hand, the world would be just fine if both twitter and tiktok just disappeared one morning
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
calstanford Avatar
64 months ago
A forced sale by a government entity to a local company.

How is the US a 'free market' and 'free country' again? Someone remind me?

Shall we force-sale Facebook Germany to a local company there now too?
How about France forces Twitter to sell to a local company there?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
and 1989 others Avatar
64 months ago
Can you imagine if Twitter purchased it, the list of restricted content would be longer than Jacks blocked list.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PostApple2016BrainWash Avatar
64 months ago
It is no doubt that the president of U.S. completely botched in handling Covid-19 outbreak insofar as it is still deteriorating across the country.

Simultaneously, it is constantly attacking the economy by abusing executive order and national security scheme regardless if there are any documentation of evidence and it resulted in U.S. company to lose billion of dollars.

The American economy is not improving by any means and absolutely not an exaggeration to view it as ”The art of the failure” throughout the presidency.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Michael Scrip Avatar
64 months ago

A forced sale by a government entity to a local company.

How is the US a 'free market' and 'free country' again? Someone remind me?

Shall we force-sale Facebook Germany to a local company there now too? How about France forces Twitter to sell to a local company there?
But but but... China is stealing mah dataaa!!! It must be stopped!!!

:P
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
farewelwilliams Avatar
64 months ago
what did the vine purchase yield?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)