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

• Mark Cuban tried to put money into Musical.ly, the platform that may 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 put money into TikTok’s precursor years to date, nonetheless talked concerning the firm turned him down.

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

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

“I beloved it due to I might merely flip it on and there could be 15,000 individuals hold 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 satisfying.”

Cuban steered CNBC he tried to put money into Musical.ly nonetheless was unsuccessful due to the corporate wasn’t searching for to lift additional funds on the time.

Cuban steered Terpak he thinks TikTok is manner a lot much less satisfying than it was and “additional 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 hottest it better 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 additional 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.

“In the long run, for a lot of who’re there to generate earnings, it is worthwhile to resolve how one can generate earnings,” he talked about.

Cuban’s ideas hit on an rising frustration many consumers have with TikTok, the place they’re flooded with adverts and lots 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 steered 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, possibly additional, % and watch that sucker develop,” he talked about. “That’ll make you feel a whole lot better 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 take care of the critics, solely posting one completely different tip of the day to “be good” and “smile.”

Per Bloomberg, Cuban has an web price of spherical $8 billion. In 1990, he equipped his first tech company, MicroSolutions, for $6 million and went on to put money into varied worthwhile firms by the use of “Shark Tank.”

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