The Wall Street Journal reported that Google has been in talks to acquire Firework, a free short-form video app that would help it compete with the hugely popular TikTok.
It is not surprising that Google is interested in having a short video application that competes with TikTok, the leader in the format and the world is taking it by storm, and there is a record number that Google seeks to have bases in this field as TikTok has been downloaded about a billion times around the world, with up to 100 million downloads in the United States, so it is clearly an attractive market.
The article says that Chinese website Weibo, which is similar to Twitter, has also shown interest in the Firework app.
The magazine article says Firework was valued at more than $100 million in revenue earlier this year and is likely to sell for more than that, and also says discussions include other partnership options besides an outright acquisition.
The latter makes sense, given that presidential candidates, Congress, and state and federal regulators are all raising concerns about Big Tech controlling the scene, so some foreign companies that own such apps seek to crush competition and act in anti-competitive ways, as happened with TikTok.
