Bill Gates calls Microsoft’s TikTok deal a poisoned chalice
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Re: Bill Gates calls Microsoft’s TikTok deal a poisoned chalice
#2I guess Microsoft may drop ~$30 billion on this poisoned chalice out of goodwill.
Re: Bill Gates calls Microsoft’s TikTok deal a poisoned chalice
#3They underlying interview is pretty amazing, mostly not about this subject:
https://www.wired.com/story/bill-gates-on-covid-most-us-test...
Re: Bill Gates calls Microsoft’s TikTok deal a poisoned chalice
#4I guess Microsoft may drop ~$30 billion on this poisoned chalice out of goodwill.
I think Bill Gates is worried that assets acquired in a $30B deal may take inordinate amounts of time and attention from senior leadership, at the expense of the rest of a $1600 billion business.
Re: Bill Gates calls Microsoft’s TikTok deal a poisoned chalice
#5could someone parse the analogy for me. Does he mean a deal like this will undo MS slowly over time?
Re: Bill Gates calls Microsoft’s TikTok deal a poisoned chalice
#6I totally see Microsoft ruining TikTok simply because of their corporate culture. Microsoft has had an astonishing history of destroying billions of dollars in value simply because they can't manage their products better. Internet Explorer, Bing and their mobile phones represent entire industries where Microsoft has been totally decimated despite enormous advantages in terms of resources and monopolies.
Re: Bill Gates calls Microsoft’s TikTok deal a poisoned chalice
#7could someone parse the analogy for me. Does he mean a deal like this will undo MS slowly over time?
Not necessarily undo MS, but rather that the deal looks attractive but may actually not be any good. In other words, it could end up being one of those deals where a few years down the road MS has to write the purchase price off as a loss.
Re: Bill Gates calls Microsoft’s TikTok deal a poisoned chalice
#8could someone parse the analogy for me. Does he mean a deal like this will undo MS slowly over time?
I'm just speaking based on my interpretation. I think the "chalice" is a jeweled cup that seems valuable, but the poison is not what you would expect to drink. So, the deal seems like a big prize, but comes with hard-to-understand disadvantages that make it a poor choice. E.g. someone bought tumblr and tried to make it advertiser friendly by removing NSFW content. As soon as they did, the community that was still flourishing there abandoned it and they had no eyeballs to sell.
Re: Bill Gates calls Microsoft’s TikTok deal a poisoned chalice
#9could someone parse the analogy for me. Does he mean a deal like this will undo MS slowly over time?
He's saying that managing TikTok might be more difficult than Microsoft can imagine. Here is the relevant part from the interview:
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As you are the technology adviser to Microsoft, I think you can look forward in a few months to fighting this battle yourself when the company owns TikTok.
Yeah, my critique of dance moves will be fantastically value-added for them.
TikTok is more than just dance moves. There’s political content.
I know, I’m kidding. You’re right. Who knows what’s going to happen with that deal. But yes, it’s a poison chalice. Being big in the social media business is no simple game, like the encryption issue.
So are you wary of Microsoft getting into that game?
I mean, this may sound self-serving, but I think that the game being more competitive is probably a good thing. But having Trump kill off the only competitor, it’s pretty bizarre.
Do you understand what rule or regulation the president is invoking to demand that TikTok sell to an American company and then take a cut of the sales price?
I agree that the principle this is proceeding on is singly strange. The cut thing, that’s doubly strange. Anyway, Microsoft will have to deal with all of that.
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Re: Bill Gates calls Microsoft’s TikTok deal a poisoned chalice
#10I do expect TikTok to lose users after Microsoft acquires it. But not because of anything Microsoft might do. TikTok just seems like a fad social network that will inevitably lose the cool factor eventually.