NetEase Technology News, August 11 news, according to foreign media reports, many well-known financial and technology companies in the United States are supporting TikTok's U.S. business in a potential sale to ensure that it continues to operate in the United States. TikTok is facing a ban from the Trump administration.

It is reported that Twitter has conducted preliminary negotiations on a possible merger with TikTok's US business. It is unclear whether Twitter will seek to promote the transaction. Given the size of the social media company, this move will face major challenges and will almost certainly require the help of other investors.

People familiar with the matter said that several investment companies that have ties to Twitter or TikTok's parent company may also play a role in transactions involving Twitter or Microsoft. These include venture capital giant Sequoia Capital (Sequoia Capital), the company's subsidiary in China made its first investment in ByteDance in 2014.

According to people familiar with the matter, Sequoia now holds slightly more than 10% of Bytedance's shares, and based on the valuation of transactions in the secondary market, this part of the shares is worth more than $10 billion. Based on this calculation, this investment will rank among the most successful venture capital transactions in history.

People familiar with the matter said that Sequoia’s global managing partner, Doug Leone, has been talking to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner in recent weeks. Kushner) and other government contacts pressured them to develop solutions that would enable TikTok to continue operating in the United States.

Considering the importance of TikTok to the Chinese parent company, Bytedance’s shareholders face great risks. Investors have valued it at more than US$100 billion this year. Other investors include private equity firm General Atlantic and Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group.

According to a person familiar with the matter, SoftBank itself also hopes to join the competition as a potential bidder for TikTok. But as a foreign company, the possibility of its successful bidding is still very small. Both General Atlantic and SoftBank declined to comment.

According to a person familiar with the bidding situation, some investors of ByteDance have already put forward an offer earlier, valuing TikTok as a whole at more than $30 billion. It is not clear whether other investors are currently participating in a potential bid for the US business.

Microsoft said in a statement that it may invite other US investors to participate in the TikTok transaction while acquiring a minority stake. The software giant does not need financial help, and its cash on hand and short-term investments exceed $136 billion.

People familiar with the matter said that due to the much smaller scale, Twitter’s acquisition is unlikely to face the same level of antitrust scrutiny as Microsoft or other potential bidders. Nonetheless, the hope of Twitter's bid for success is very slim, and it absolutely needs the help of other investors.

Compared with other large technology companies, the company's financial resources are much smaller. Twitter has been profitable in the past few years, but reported a loss of US$1.23 billion in the most recent quarter, with cash and short-term investments of US$7.8 billion.

But Twitter does have strong investors, such as the private equity firm Silver Lake, which invested $1 billion in this instant messaging platform in March and made a series of other large-scale investments during the COVID-19 pandemic. , To support major technology brands.

Leon told that he would continue to contact Mnuchin and Kushner to see how to save TikTok. A person familiar with the matter said that General Atlantic's chief executive William Ford (William Ford) also lobbied to change the company. (Little)

Source: NetEase Technology Report, translated by Google Translate