Why Tiktok is worth buying regardless of its pitfalls, unresolved questions

TikTok could try to lower the risk for an acquirer by striking multiyear exclusive deals with its most popular American creators, the way that platforms like YouTube and Twitch have done

The hit video app appears headed for a shotgun wedding after President Trump has decided to force its owner, the Chinese tech conglomerate ByteDance, to sell TikTok to an American acquirer or be barred from operating in the country. On Monday, the president — acting as a combination of investment banker, regulator, and back-room mafioso — said he would approve a bid by Microsoft for TikTok’s U.S. operations, provided that both parties meet his as-yet-unspecified demands and hit a Sept. 15 deadline.

There are a million questions still swirling around a possible TikTok-Microsoft deal. But the most glaring question mark