Big Tech backlash will hurt Little Tech more 28 Oct 2020 Facebook, Twitter and Google hide behind a law that protects them from liability for toxic content but lets them censor when they see fit. Removing that shield, as some lawmakers want to do, would be inconvenient and expensive for them, but brutal for smaller rivals like Yelp.
U.S. election could be Twitter’s darkest day 26 Oct 2020 The $40 bln firm, Facebook and other online platforms can’t win in the Nov. 3 ballot. Banning political ads and premature claims of victory will be controversial and messy. Breakingviews imagines Jack Dorsey proposing one radical option to Mark Zuckerberg: a temporary shutdown.
Snap reveals Facebook’s fallibility 20 Oct 2020 The $42 bln disappearing-message app posted revenue growth of 52% in the third quarter. It coincided with a boycott of Mark Zuckerberg’s $745 bln platform, which he downplayed. Trouble at TikTok may have helped, but Snap’s smaller size shows cracks harder to see in Facebook.
Lufax may find three’s a China fintech IPO crowd 19 Oct 2020 It’s like the proverbial bus: long waits before multiple new share sales arrive at once. The Ping An-backed outfit, last valued at $39 bln, is touting small-business bona fides to stand apart from Ant and JD Digits. New York could be a tougher venue to make the case, however.
Italian Insta-star IPO to test influencer model 12 Oct 2020 Fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni wants to monetise her lifestyle brand with a market debut worth nearly $100 mln. The social media celeb counts 21 mln fans and links to Dior and Lancôme. A deal would test investor faith that digital-inspired businesses are more than skin-deep.
Everyone looks like a deal amateur in TikTok mess 25 Sep 2020 U.S. orders to divest assets are often straightforward. But dizzying contradictions from both dealmakers and the White House have given ByteDance a free pass around rules to sell TikTok. The resulting chaos obscures the stakes: handling data security and foreign takeover laws.
U.S. WeChat ban adopts China’s Great Firewall 22 Sep 2020 A U.S. judge gave WeChat a break from an order barring downloads to protect national security. But the White House still wants to push out Chinese tech, echoing Beijing bans of American internet firms. It’s a road map for more censorship and ups the ante on online protectionism.
Mulan flounder previews Hollywood’s next red scare 22 Sep 2020 Disney was slammed for shooting the $200 mln movie in restive Xinjiang, yet the release was widely panned in China too. Despite the pandering, Hollywood can’t get what it wants from the film market. Beijing is also unhappy. Studios are next in line for a trade-war screening.
Trump writes cliffhanger into TikTok reality show 18 Sep 2020 The White House will stop Americans from downloading the video app and WeChat, both Chinese-owned. The plot centers on national-security worries but the immediate drama is of the U.S. president's making. Shifting a TikTok deadline past election day adds to the political intrigue.
TikTok deal rings alarm on M&A reviews 16 Sep 2020 The ByteDance unit hopes to avoid a sale by partnering with Oracle. It hardly amounts to the clean break Donald Trump demanded. The politicking muddies the already challenging process for investments with foreign involvement. It makes cross-border deals that much more difficult.
Facebook will have to grow the hard way 16 Sep 2020 U.S. regulators may file an antitrust lawsuit against the $775 bln firm. The threat has a chilling effect on Facebook’s ability to snap up the next hot thing in social media. To keep up with changing tastes, Mark Zuckerberg is going to have to transform the company from within.
TikTok-Oracle deal leaves room for surprises 13 Sep 2020 ByteDance has chosen Larry Ellison’s firm as the “tech partner” for its video-app unit but any deal that stops short of a full sale will raise national security worries. With raging anti-China rhetoric and elections, Oracle’s ties to U.S. President Donald Trump are no cure-all.
Corona Capital: Bumble IPO, SPACs 2 Sep 2020 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The Blackstone-backed dating site may be eyeing an $8 bln valuation if it goes public next year, more than twice its pre-virus price tag. Ex-MGM exec Harry Sloan adds online gaming to his blank-check company empire.
Corona Capital: TikTok, India’s GDP 31 Aug 2020 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: Video app Triller says it has offered $20 bln for parts of its much larger rival, but the bid makes no sense; India’s virus-hit economy is probably hurting more than the latest figures suggest.
TikTok starts to attract a FOMO premium 27 Aug 2020 Walmart’s interest in teaming up with Microsoft to buy the China-backed video app makes sense only in that TikTok is one of a kind, and ByteDance is a forced seller. Like rival bidder Oracle, Walmart is taking a strategic detour. History offers sad examples of how that can end.
TikTok CEO exit makes chaos even harder to tame 27 Aug 2020 Kevin Mayer is leaving after three months. It's no surprise with the video app owned by China's ByteDance facing a split and sale or a U.S. ban. But a buyer, be it Microsoft, Oracle or otherwise, could have used his help – after all, he has 100 days more experience than they do.
TikTok could find a new home on Wall Street 21 Aug 2020 Potential suitors for the Chinese-backed video app go from logical – such as Twitter – to downright odd, like Oracle. But owner ByteDance could do worse than try a buyout firm like Blackstone. Private equity could bridge financial gaps and push the right political buttons.
Tencent’s D.C. lobbying is too little, too late 19 Aug 2020 WeChat's owner made its first hire to influence Washington amid a threat to ban the Chinese app. Huawei boosted government efforts after its finance chief was arrested. TikTok was less flat-footed but still tardy. Courting politicians works better before their help is needed.
TikTok sale is ultimate Silicon Valley hackathon 14 Aug 2020 The White House wants the U.S. app to make a clean break from China’s ByteDance. But it is messy. Tech footprints are hard to unwind. ByteDance’s investors – some American – aren’t pushovers. And politics are tricky, from weighing a cash Microsoft bid to a Twitter stock deal.
U.S.-China tech spat is less costly than tariffs 14 Aug 2020 The two nations will review their trade deal as the White House refocuses on a purge of Chinese apps. The economic damage is more limited than tariffs, which upended companies and hurt consumers on both sides. Containing the trade fight is more important than saving TikTok.