- Mark Cuban tried to put money into Musical.ly, the platform that can develop to be TikTok.
- Cuban says the platform misplaced its spark, turning into “agency.”
- In an interview, Cuban talked about specializing in monetization usually harms the actual particular person expertise.
Mark Cuban tried to put money into TikTok’s precursor years thus far, nonetheless talked in regards to the firm turned him down.
Cuban instructed content material materials supplies creator and journalist Jules Terpak in an interview on her YouTube channel that he cherished utilizing TikTok when it was referred to as Musical.ly.
The platform rebranded to TikTok in 2017 when it was acquired by its present householders, ByteDance.
“I beloved it on account of I might merely flip it on and there is perhaps 15,000 individuals maintain instantly that I might talk to,” Cuban talked about of Musical.ly.
“It was insane. I beloved it. After which, because of it bought into the dances and every little issue, it was nice.”
Cuban instructed CNBC he tried to put money into Musical.ly nonetheless was unsuccessful on account of the corporate wasn’t in search of to boost extra funds on the time.
Cuban instructed Terpak he thinks TikTok is much a lot much less nice than it was and “extra agency.”
He talked about that the dance-focused model of the app was dropping billions of {{{dollars}}}, “and so in some unspecified time in the end, they needed to start out trying to make some cash.”
“I hottest it elevated when it was dances and music,” Cuban talked about. “Now it is a enterprise.”
Cuban talked about TikTok’s early magnificence was that its algorithm served prospects with extra of what they hottest than one other platform.
“Now it is agency,” he talked about. “It is what number of followers are you able to get and the way in which will you’re employed collectively these followers.”
There’s “a diminishing return” for purchasers when platforms monetize, Cuban talked about, pushed by enterprise realities.
“In the long run, for people who’re there to generate earnings, you may need to determine how one can generate earnings,” he talked about.
Cuban’s ideas hit on an rising frustration many patrons have with TikTok, the place they’re flooded with adverts and loads of see the platform as a pseudo-shopping channel.
Cuban has a TikTok account himself, the place he has 1.1 million followers — although he would not submit usually.
In 2023, he confronted some backlash for a “tip of the day” on incomes money, all through which he instructed individuals to chop as soon as extra on extra lattes and streaming suppliers.
“You need to put that in a cash market account incomes 5, perhaps extra, % and watch that sucker develop,” he talked about. “That’ll make you’re feeling an entire lot elevated than that extra latte that you just merely had that day.”
Some criticized the recommendation for being unrealistic and out of contact with the overwhelming majority of individuals.
Cuban did not cope with the critics, solely posting one completely different tip of the day to “be good” and “smile.”
In keeping with Bloomberg, Cuban has an web worth of spherical $8 billion. In 1990, he supplied his first tech company, MicroSolutions, for $6 million and went on to put money into loads of worthwhile companies by the use of “Shark Tank.”
In October, Cuban launched he is perhaps leaving “Shark Tank” after its sixteenth season to spend extra time collectively collectively together with his children.