Mark Cuban Wished to Spend money on TikTok Years Beforehand When It Was Musical.ly

• Mark Cuban tried to position money into Musical.ly, the platform which 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 individual expertise.

Mark Cuban tried to position money into TikTok’s precursor years beforehand, nonetheless talked concerning the firm turned him down.

Cuban advised content material materials supplies creator and journalist Jules Terpak in an interview on her YouTube channel that he beloved utilizing TikTok when it was often known as Musical.ly.

The platform rebranded to TikTok in 2017 when it was acquired by its present homeowners, ByteDance.

“I beloved it due to I am going to merely flip it on and there may presumably be 15,000 individuals hold instantly that I am going to converse 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 pleasing.”

Cuban advised CNBC he tried to position money into Musical.ly nonetheless was unsuccessful due to the corporate wasn’t looking for to boost further funds on the time.

Cuban advised Terpak he thinks TikTok is approach a lot much less pleasing than it was and “further agency.”

He talked about that the dance-focused model of the app was dropping billions of {{{dollars}}}, “and so in some unspecified time eventually, they wished to start out making an attempt 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 shoppers with further 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 best way will you’re employed collectively these followers.”

There’s “a diminishing return” for patrons when platforms monetize, Cuban talked about, pushed by enterprise realities.

“Ultimately, for people who’re there to generate earnings, it is good 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 plenty 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 advised individuals to chop as soon as extra on further lattes and streaming suppliers.

“You wish to put that in a cash market account incomes 5, possibly further, % and watch that sucker develop,” he talked about. “That’ll make you’re feeling an entire lot elevated than that further 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 totally different tip of the day to “be good” and “smile.”

In keeping with Bloomberg, Cuban has a web-based worth of spherical $8 billion. In 1990, he provided his first tech company, MicroSolutions, for $6 million and went on to position money into various worthwhile corporations by “Shark Tank.”

In October, Cuban launched he may presumably be leaving “Shark Tank” after its sixteenth season to spend further time collectively alongside together with his youngsters.