Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban attempted to invest in popular video-sharing app TikTok in the early stages before it was ever called TikTok, but the company turned him away.
What Happened: According to a CNBC report citing a recent interview with social media personality Jules Terpak, Cuban once attempted to invest in Musical.ly, the video-sharing app that ultimately became TikTok, because he “loved” using the platform.
“I remember when it was Musical.ly and I tried to invest … Oh my god, I loved it because I could just turn it on and there would be 15,000 people live immediately that I could talk to,” Cuban reportedly told Terpak in the interview.
The report indicates that Cuban’s bid for an investment in Musical.ly was unsuccessful because the company didn’t need the money and wasn’t looking to take on any new investors.
Musical.ly ended up being acquired by TikTok parent company Bytedance for around $800 million in 2017. The video-sharing app then merged into TikTok about a year after the acquisition.
See Also: TikTok On Trial: Supreme Court Prepares To Weigh National Security Risks
Cuban prefers the older version of the app that focused on music and dancing. Nowadays, TikTok “feels more corporate” and business-focused, especially since the revenue-sharing program launch, Cuban said in the interview.
“I liked it better when it was dances [and] music … Now it’s a business,” he said.
It’s not clear how much Cuban would have invested in Musical.ly if he were given the opportunity. It’s also not clear exactly how much he would have made from the investment.
Assuming Cuban could have invested at a similar valuation to what Bytedance paid for Musical.ly in 2017 ($800 million), the investment would have appreciated enormously. According to an Economic Times report, TikTok parent company Bytedance valued itself at around $300 billion in a recent buyback offer to investors.
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Mark Cuban Wanted To Invest In TikTok Before It Was TikTok: ‘Oh My God, I Loved It’
Entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban has revealed that he was interested in investing in what would later become the wildly popular app TikTok before it even existed.
In a recent interview, Cuban shared that he first came across the concept of short-form video content and instantly saw its potential. He said, “I remember seeing this app that was all about short videos, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I loved it.’ I wanted to invest in it right then and there.”
Unfortunately for Cuban, the app he was referring to was not TikTok, but a different platform that never quite took off. Cuban admitted, “I missed the boat on that one. But hey, you win some, you lose some.”
Despite missing out on the opportunity to invest in TikTok before it became a household name, Cuban remains a savvy investor in the tech industry and continues to spot promising trends in the market.
Who knows what other gems Cuban might have passed on over the years, but one thing is for sure: his instincts for spotting potential in innovative ideas are as sharp as ever.
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