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Microsoft CEO says the failed TikTok deal was the ‘strangest thing I’ve ever worked on’

Remember last year when Microsoft randomly wanted to buy TikTok as bans were discussed? Here’s why.

by
Josiah Motley
September 28, 2021

Image: Unsplash

Microsoft CEO says the failed Microsoft/TikTok deal was the “strangest thing I’ve ever worked on.”

While it might be painful, remember back to last year for a minute. Trump was still in office, COVID-19 was rapidly spreading across the world, and TikTok became an issue of national security seemingly overnight.

After kids trolled the then president’s Tulsa rally, TikTok miraculously became a matter of utmost importance, and it wasn’t long before Trump began taking steps to ban the Chinese app. While some concerns regarding TikTok are justified, it was how the whole thing went down that made it almost laughable.

Talks of bans followed, it then became a discussion regarding an American company buying TikTok in order for it to continue to operate in the US. Multiple companies got involved, from Oracle and Walmart to Microsoft.

All of this seemed extremely random, but recently, during the annual Code Conference, and as reported by CNET, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shed some light on why the company was interested in the booming social platform.

It comes down to community. If you look at some of Microsoft’s most recent acquisitions, they include LinkedIn, Minecraft, and Grubhub. All services that provide some sort of community (physical or digital). TikTok would have fit right in with that.

Microsoft also tried to buy Discord recently, but Discord turned down the $12 billion offer.

Nadella says, “It [was] the strangest thing I’ve ever sort of worked on,” but that he and Microsoft are no longer interested and that he’s “happy with what I have.”

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