• Bytedance launched TikTok in 2017;
• The app has grown more popular during the pandemic, reaching the milestone of 2 billion downloads in April, according to Sensor Tower;
• TikTok would quite an acquisition for the big tech’s portfolio, which already has LinkedIn (bought in 2016 for $27 billion in 2016), and Mojang (Minecraft‘s creator, bought in 2014).

According to multiple U.S. news outlets, Microsoft is thinking about buying the TikTok video-sharing mobile app from its Chinese owner ByteDance –which, according to Reuters, has valued TikTok at $50 billion last week.

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CNBC pointed out this Friday that TikTok acquisition “could make Microsoft, a major provider of business software, more concentrated on consumer technology”. Following this path, TikTok would quite an acquisition for the big tech’s portfolio, which already has LinkedIn (bought in 2016 for $27 billion in 2016), and Mojang (Minecraft‘s creator, bought in 2014).

Bytedance launched TikTok in 2017. The app has grown more popular during the pandemic, reaching the milestone of 2 billion downloads in April, according to Sensor Tower.

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ByteDance is considering a range of options for TikTok amid pressure from the United States to relinquish control of the app: the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a U.S. government panel which reviews deals by foreign acquirers for potential national security risks, has raised concerns about the safety of the personal data that TikTok handles under its Chinese owner.