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Microsoft Gothic Neo3/22/2021
A survey of staff which asked them for their opinions on the merger - worth a reported 50billion - found 63 per cent were opposed with just 18 per cent in favour.Microsoft entered the running to buy TikTok earlier this month after Donald Trump threatened to ban the app unless it cut ties with its China-based owners.The deal, which would have to be concluded by September 15, could be worth up to 50billion - which Trump has suggested the government should get a cut of.Microsoft staff are opposed to the company buying Chinese social media giant TikTok, leaked messages have revealed, with 63 per cent voting against it in a survey (file) Bill Gates, who co-founded Microsoft in 1975 and quit the board this year, has already described the deal as a poisoned chalice - and it seems staff agree with him.
Posting on an internal company social network called Yammer, staff said it feels like were not doing the right thing by entering into the negotiations. In a survey on Yammer, seen by Business Insider, 63 per cent of staff said no when asked whether Microsoft should buy TikTok. Another 19 per cent said they werent sure and just 18 per cent said yes. The survey polled 250 members of Microsofts 150,000 employees. In a comment thread about the deal, one user wrote: Especially since Satya Nadella became CEO, Ive felt nothing but pride to be part of this company. RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 Next Over one BILLION Android phones may be at risk of 400. Another added: This deal is unethical from pretty much any perspective. That Microsoft would even be considering stepping into this situation is unthinkable. Last week, Trump moved to ban TikToks owners ByteDance from operating in the US on national security grounds, over fears that data collected by the app is being sent back to Beijing. But a last-minute intervention by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella convinced the president to offer TikTok a lifeline: It can continue to operate provided ByteDance sells it to an American company. A very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the Treasury of the United States, because were making the deal possible, Trump added. Those comments raised eyebrows across the business world, and was likened to a Mafia-style shakedown by some. Mark Almond, a lecturer in modern history at the University of Oxford, said Trump appeared to be asking for pizzo - an Italian mob term for protection money. Microsoft entered the running to buy TikTok after CEO Satya Nadella spoke to President Trump (pictured together in 2017) and persuaded him not to ban the app, if a US firm took it over This may be intended as a signal to Beijing, but it may also send a message to others who are at the moment not remotely hostile towards the United States, he said. It gives his enemies, and his enemies in the US, grounds to say that it looks like a Mafia shakedown. The deal appeals to Microsoft because it would allow the computer manufacturer to increase its presence in the social media space, competing with the likes of Facebook and Google. Neither Facebook or Google can enter the running for TikTok, because of anti-trust issues they are facing. The apps users are also predominantly young, providing lucrative growth and advertising prospects. Some experts have suggested TikTok could be worth up to 200billion in a few years, provided the right opportunities to grow.
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