Trump Expresses Support for Oracle To Buy TikTok (wsj.com) 65
President Trump voiced support on Tuesday for Oracle to buy the U.S. operations of TikTok, adding a fresh wrinkle to the bidding for the Chinese-owned video-sharing app. From a report: Oracle is a new entrant in the negotiations for TikTok, whose owner ByteDance is facing a fall deadline from the Trump administration to divest itself of its U.S. operations. Oracle, a giant in business software, has had preliminary discussions about teaming with some of ByteDance's existing minority investors to buy TikTok's U.S. operations but it isn't clear how advanced the talks are, said people familiar with the matter. Microsoft said earlier this month it was in negotiations with ByteDance, and that it was coordinating with the White House. Twitter is also exploring a bid, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
Oracle has closer ties to the White House than most other parties involved in the bidding. Larry Ellison, the company's co-founder, chairman and largest shareholder, earlier this year threw a fundraiser at his house for the president. Chief Executive Safra Catz also worked on the executive committee for the Trump transition team in 2016. Asked Tuesday if Oracle would be a good buyer for TikTok, President Trump said, "Well I think Oracle is a great company and I think its owner is a tremendous guy, a tremendous person. I think that Oracle would be certainly somebody that could handle it."
Oracle has closer ties to the White House than most other parties involved in the bidding. Larry Ellison, the company's co-founder, chairman and largest shareholder, earlier this year threw a fundraiser at his house for the president. Chief Executive Safra Catz also worked on the executive committee for the Trump transition team in 2016. Asked Tuesday if Oracle would be a good buyer for TikTok, President Trump said, "Well I think Oracle is a great company and I think its owner is a tremendous guy, a tremendous person. I think that Oracle would be certainly somebody that could handle it."
Whoever gives the biggest kickback (Score:4, Insightful)
"I don't care which American company buys it as long as they give a percentage to the government that made this deal happen"
Re:Whoever gives the biggest kickback (Score:5, Insightful)
Oracle is even worse than Microsoft. Oracle has no brand strategy, they just buy things and then stripmine them for IP to sue others with.
Corporate cancers that devours others? (Score:2)
Concurrence, but I'm trying to see the good side of Oracle and Microsoft devouring and destroying other companies here. However the problem is that their victims typically aren't the kind of corporate cancers that deserved to be destroyed. What did Sun and Nokia do that was so bad?
(My sig is really about the solution approach I favor. Small business first, then small government. More freedom^2.)
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Nokia was a mess. They failed to innovate in the software / services dep
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Sun definitely did NOT write MySQL. One can even try googling "who wrote mysql" to find out for themselves :)
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"I don't care which American company buys it as long as they give a percentage to the government that made this deal happen"
"I don't care which American company buys it as long as they give a nice big cut to the president that made this robbery happen"
TIFTFY
Re:Whoever gives the biggest kickback (Score:4, Insightful)
"I don't care which American company buys it as long as they give a percentage to the government that made this deal happen"
"I don't care which American company buys it as long as they give a nice big cut to the president that made this robbery happen" TIFTFY
That's a terrible accusation, it implies that the government officials and politicians are open to bribery which, of course we know is not the case. The correct way to phrase this is:
"I don't care which American company buys it as long as they give a nice big campaign contribution to the president that made this robbery happen"
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"I don't care which American company buys it as long as they give a percentage to the government that made this deal happen"
"I don't care which American company buys it as long as they give a nice big cut to the president that made this robbery happen" TIFTFY
That's a terrible accusation, it implies that the government officials and politicians are open to bribery which, of course we know is not the case. The correct way to phrase this is: "I don't care which American company buys it as long as they give a nice big campaign contribution to the president that made this robbery happen"
"give a nice big Campaign contribution to the president" would be the term appropriate for bribing a normal politician but for Trump "give the president his cut", pronounced with a thick Italian American wise-guy accent, is the only correct term.
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Don't post anything to this thread (Score:3, Interesting)
Let's all collectively impose a moratorium on Trump related stories. Don't worry nerds will know about it from other news. Lets get it off this page. It becomes an obsession and we nerds do have ADHD issues we need to guard. So No more Trump related posts.
You can make this happen by not posting anything.
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How else will they hit their daily click and reply quota?
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Re:Don't post anything to this thread (Score:4, Insightful)
I would agree. Except for the fact he seems to want to micromanage the United States. Support his seemed Friends and attack his seemed enemies.
This isn't what normal should be, or should we try to excuse it away.
The president of the United States should not endorse american companies over another american company. Because all it does is adds already complex negotiations a political stance to something that may not be political at all.
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Yeah, but PROFIT.
Not that it would matter to the GOT, but I still think the public should see Trump's phone records so they could be correlated with the insider trading of his phone buddies. It doesn't matter how the stock market jumps as long as you know when. YUGE PROFIT.
My current thinking from Skin in the Game is that stock market gambles without skin shouldn't be permitted. Skinless gambling lets you win by losing other people's money. (Which is also the game I expect Xi to play in October as part of
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The President shouldn't be acting like a Mafia boss, forcing companies to be sold and claiming a percentage.
If it happens China will have to retaliate.
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But surely that is what you all voted for?
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Where are your funny mods? I hope your comment spawns a MASSIVE thread.
Re:Don't post anything to this thread - ALL (Score:2)
No lets impose a moratorium on ALL political stories. I'm sick of ALL of it I don't know about you. Every politician we hear about is a crook, criminal and ASSHOLE! Republican AND Democrat!
Wut (Score:3)
I thought TikTok was just a video messenger service with really good filters, but what is Oracle doing with that?
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Larry Ellison gets butt-hurt when he moves down the ranking of richest people in the world. It's been a life-long problem with him.
Re:Wut (Score:4, Funny)
Larry Ellison gets butt-hurt when he moves down the ranking of richest people in the world. It's been a life-long problem with him.
Well so do I, but you don't see me going out to buy TikToks.
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Mod parent funny.
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So next year... (Score:5, Insightful)
.... we'll get a 15 sec video of Larry dancing on one of his yachts as he looks at the extra billions it made for him in 2021. Of course by 2022 it'll be a dud as Oracle Sales will have got in on the act and told the teens they can only post a video if they first take out a contract to buy 20 video slots at 1K a piece first and have to pay a fee everytime someone watches one of the them even if they think its shit.
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Worst company to own it, worst person owning it (Score:5, Insightful)
How does this even make sense? They have no social media experience or, to my knowledge, any experience with any public-facing application. They also have a long history of mismanaging companies. I am perpetually shocked Oracle is not bankrupt. I know Oracle RDBMS is insanely expensive, but still, how much can you milk from that cow?
I know Larry Ellison is a loud and proud Republican, but if he's your friend, Trump, you should advise him NOT to do it and take the huge inevitable loss that will follow. How much legs does TikTok really have? It really seems like a short-lived fad as it hasn't expanded much to users over 25...and teenagers don't really have that much money, do they? I know I am old, but for all previous fads....snapchat, fortnight, instagram, minecraft, etc....I was at least modestly curious...for this one, I just can't image it being very fun for me nor do I know a single person over 20 who likes it....and I am even more certain someone like Larry Ellison is the last person who could make this app live up to its full potential.
Re:Worst company to own it, worst person owning it (Score:5, Funny)
What better way to kill TikTok off completely than to have Oracle buy it? Win-win.
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This. TikTok disappears and Oracle looses money. For once, Trump has a very good idea. "Auch ein blindes Huhn findet mal ein Korn" as is said in German.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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or because it's become a center for organized opposition to his administration?
I thought tiktok's user base was mostly below voting age?
I think he's primarily trying to score points by railing against that thing that his so-called "suburban housewives" constantly have to pry their teen's attention away from to get them to clean their room.
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Doesn't mean you're wrong though.
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This is true, but understanding that would mean that Trump was capable of recognizing Two D Chess. Thinking more than a very simple step ahead.
Instead he's just throwing a tantrum because people laughed at him and pointed out how stupid he is.
Let oracle buy it. Maybe we'll get real lucky and they'll BOTH implode.
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Re:Worst company to own it, worst person owning it (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you think Trump is targeting TikTok because it's Chinese, or because it's become a center for organized opposition to his administration?
It is at least highly coincidental that Trump didn't really start talking about TikTok until the well publicized campaign to sign up for Tulsa tickets that in part helped lead to the embarrassment that that rally was.
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Larry Ellison is a legendary asshole and Oracle is a terrible company.
Yeah, we all know ORACLE stands for One Rich Asshole Called Larry Ellison
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How does this even make sense? They have no social media experience or, to my knowledge, any experience with any public-facing application. They also have a long history of mismanaging companies. I am perpetually shocked Oracle is not bankrupt. I know Oracle RDBMS is insanely expensive, but still, how much can you milk from that cow?
Didn't we see this exact scenario on Silicon Valley? Isn't a third of their user base supposed to be 14 year old and under kids? I say TikTok should take the money and run!
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Trump looks like he "won" against TikTok, then maybe Trump helps out in Oracle vs Google?
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They are buying cloud demand. Oracle is trying hard to kae its Cloud popular but hardly anyone uses it. Tiktok is one of the largest users of cloud storage. If Oracle buys them they will move Tiktok onto the Oracle cloud and use that as a case study to sell Oracle cloud
PLEASE BUT IT! (Score:2)
Oracle should buy it! I hope so.
Let them waste the $$$. The kiddies will be onto the next Chinese fad App by next year.
If Oracle could only undermine social media apps like they've done to everything they buy....
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Because slimeballs coalesce. And i would look at this as american companies buying foreign companies that are forced to sell by government fiat, at fire sale prices.
Of course the weasels will all be out. Same as people scooping up cheap houses and businesses when the japanese were all interned in ww2. Racist based appropriation by americans is pretty much how they got their whole damn country.
Well... that's one way... (Score:2)
mmm thought the idea was (Score:2)
Tic-Tac (Score:2, Troll)
Uncle Larry: I bought Tic-Tac like you wanted me to, where do I put your cut?
The Alleged President: TikTok!! I told you to buy TikTok, you bumbling moron.
Uncle Larry: Errrr....so you don't want the kickback?
The Alleged President: No, I didn't mean that, just pay at the desk on your way out of the White House.
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Why would anyone care? (Score:5, Insightful)
Getting tired of hearing Trumps' opinion on random things. No politician should be saying anything about one company buying another, or what products consumers should or shouldn't buy. It's like we're one step away from corporate sponsorship of government facilities. Next month will it be the "Clorox White House"?
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The bean example is better, though I already forget the name of the beans.
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But one of his alleged selling points is that he's not a like a regular politician who waters everything down to try not to offend any one group. He's more "real".
But personally I think he should STFU. There is being too "real".
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What I like about this occasion is that practically everyone hates either Trump or Ellison. If one is a nerd who loves Trump (I never could have believed there could be so many of them as there seems to be) this has to have their head exploding.
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It is going to need a shitload of bleach by January.
If only the Hatch Act (Score:2)
If only the Hatch Act applied to presidents and vice presidents. I mean, it would just be one more law to break with no consequences for this administration, but it would be nice to have it on record as one more law broken. Kellyanne violates the Hatch Act about three times a week and laughs at you if you point this out.
Remember when the government wasn't supposed to pick winners and losers? Yeah, remember this the next time someone brings that up.
TikTok should just wait 5 months. (Score:1)
Then this problem will magically disappear.
Good plan (Score:1)
Oracle should be able to shut TikTok down after a few months of ownership.
Where do you think Huawei came from? (Score:2)
The Chinese bought it.
The US forced the Chinese to sell it to HP as they refused to let China have such an important American company.
China sold 3Com to HP and they renamed all the Chinese 3Com stuff as Huawei instead.
HP ended up with a steaming pile of shit because 3Com's technology was out of date and for the previous few years, Huawei had taken a "Build the stuff fast and if it breaks at the customer, fix it" approach. And HP couldn't manage this,