The popular micro blogging platform has spoken to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance about a possible sale. ByteDance has only few days to agree to sell the U.S. arm of its massive video creation and sharing app before President Donald Trump’s recent executive order banning its use in the U.S. kicks in. 

  The problem for Twitter,

      According to Reuters the problem for Twitter, will be money. TikTok is currently being valued at around $30 billion, while Twitter is at $29 billion, and there would clearly be some significant hurdles to overcome in any such deal. If Twitter wants to outbid the company behind Windows, Office, and Xbox, it needs to shore up support from financial partners.

Impediments in Microsoft’s purchase of the platform,

   There would be impediments to consider in Microsoft’s purchase of the platform, most notably the potential fall-out with the Chinese regime, which is not particularly pleased that the US Government is essentially forcing a Chinese business to sell to a US group. Microsoft has over 6,000 employees in China, and conducts billions in business deals in the nation every year. If Microsoft does purchase TikTok, the CCP could look to limit Microsoft’s capacity to operate in the region.

Why is TikTok significantly essential when they already have Vine?‘

The idea that Twitter might want to go down that road again seems odd, especially considering that TikTok is in largely the same position as Vine was at peak, with significant cultural success, but limited avenues for monetization. Of course, we all remember how Twitter bought Vine and then unceremoniously killed it a few years later.

Anyway, if someone does buy the American wing of TikTok, let’s hope the eventual outcome is a little better.