Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates in a recent interview with Wired called the potential TikTok-Microsoft deal a poisoned chalice. Gates added that acquiring parts of TikTok won’t be easy.
“Who knows what’s going to happen with that deal. But yes, it’s a poison chalice,” he said.
He also commented on how it’s not simple being a big player in the social media game and that Microsoft will have to contend with and a new approach towards content moderation.
When asked whether he was wary of Microsoft getting into the content side of things, he said that it’s good that Facebook would end up having more competition but that “having Trump kill off the only competitor, it’s pretty bizarre.”
Just recently, TikTok threatened legal action against an executive order that US President Donald Trump issued, prohibiting the China-based company from doing business with the US firms after 45 days.
Trump issued the order prohibiting US transactions with the short video-sharing platform's Chinese owner, ByteDance.
Gates also seems confused like many others on the potential outcome of this deal and whether Trump is looking for some kind of a cut for the US Treasury from it.
“The cut thing, that’s doubly strange. Anyway, Microsoft will have to deal with all of that,” he said.
These comments from Gates come a few days after Microsoft announced that it was pursuing to buy TikTok’s operations in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. There are reports that suggest that Microsoft is eyeing to take over global operations of the short video-making platform.
If it comes through, the deal would amplify the visibility that Microsoft currently has in the global tech space. Although it is also risky, as with the deal, Microsoft will venture into the ugly trade war that’s currently brewing between China and the US.
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