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 is able to 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 person expertise.

Mark Cuban tried to position money into TikTok’s precursor years before now, nonetheless talked concerning 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 beloved utilizing TikTok when it was often called Musical.ly.

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

“I beloved it on account of I might merely flip it on and there could be 15,000 individuals preserve instantly that I might converse to,” Cuban talked about of Musical.ly.

“It was insane. I beloved it. After which, on account of it bought into the dances and every little issue, it was satisfying.”

Cuban instructed CNBC he tried to position money into Musical.ly nonetheless was unsuccessful on account of the corporate wasn’t searching for to boost further funds on the time.

Cuban instructed Terpak he thinks TikTok is much a lot much less satisfying 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 ultimately, they wished to begin trying to make some cash.”

“I most popular it bigger 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 purchasers with further of what they most popular 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.

“Finally, for people who’re there to generate revenue, it is important to resolve how one can generate revenue,” he talked about.

Cuban’s ideas hit on an rising frustration many consumers 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 further lattes and streaming suppliers.

“You need to put that in a cash market account incomes 5, perhaps further, % and watch that sucker develop,” he talked about. “That’ll make you feel an entire lot bigger than that further latte that you just simply 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.”

Per Bloomberg, Cuban has a web-based value of spherical $8 billion. In 1990, he offered his first tech company, MicroSolutions, for $6 million and went on to position money into loads of worthwhile companies by the use of “Shark Tank.”

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