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<\/p>\n Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at the annual tech executive gathering a year after he attempted to buy TikTok.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Asa Mathat\/Vox Media<\/p>\n <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n When news spread last year that Microsoft was <\/span>, a lot of techies scratched their heads. What does Microsoft, a company that makes most of its money selling productivity software and services, have to do with a social network like TikTok?<\/p>\n Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella didn’t explain his thinking at the time, but a year later he said it actually makes a bit of sense when you consider three of Microsoft’s biggest acquisitions since he took charge of the company seven years ago. Minecraft in 2014, LinkedIn in 2016 and GitHub in 2018; each were about building community, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, when TikTok came to Microsoft, apparently intrigued <\/span> and its efforts to build <\/span>, Nadella said it made sense to him.<\/p>\n Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella being interviewed by Recode’s Kara Swisher at Code Conference 2021<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Asa Mathat\/Vox Media<\/p>\n <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n “That gave us permission,” he said during an interview with Recode’s Kara Swisher at the\u00a0.\u00a0<\/p>\n But he got far more than he expected. The deal soon became a high stakes drama between the fast-growing Chinese social networking giant and whatever US company was potentially going to shell out the money to buy it. Then-President Donald<\/a> Trump reportedly worked on the deal behind the scenes and made public declarations, including at one point <\/span> if the deal went through. Other companies, including business software maker Oracle <\/span>, got involved too. The New York Times at one point declared it a “soap opera.”<\/p>\n “It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever sort of worked on,” Nadella said. But that was all just a couple months before the 2020 presidential election, my little pony porn<\/a> and just as quickly as the drama unfolded, he noted it pretty much “dropped off.” Nadella also declined to say what it was like negotiating with Trump, seemingly playing up his coyness for laughs.<\/p>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<\/span><\/span>
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