Oracle considers TikTok, Putin and Belarus, and the rise of “blank-cheque companies”
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 19 August 2020
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Oracle has entered the race to acquire TikTok, EU leaders lined up to urge the Vladimir Putin to help steer Belarus out of its political crisis, and the US postmaster-general has reversed course on a series of controversial cost-cutting measures after Democrats claimed that they would hinder postal voting in the presidential election. Plus, a look at why special purpose acquisition companies are on the increase.
Oracle enters race to buy TikTok’s US operations
https://www.ft.com/content/272cfc69-b268-45ac-88d6-d55821f27e78
Putin warns western leaders over ‘meddling’ in Belarus
https://www.ft.com/content/f96fdf91-6826-4af2-923d-ff14947fcd15
US postal service delays cutbacks over election fears
https://www.ft.com/content/2fb59ebf-4e84-4ce6-ab8d-6f1a7dc1a058
Can Spacs shake off their bad reputation?
https://www.ft.com/content/6eb655a2-21f5-4313-b287-964a63dd88b3
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Wednesday August 19th and this is your F.T. News briefing |
| 0:08.6 | The race to acquire Tik-T talk is heating up. The crisis in Belarus has European leaders lining up to talk with Vladimir Putin. |
| 0:17.8 | And days before he appears before Congress, the U.S. Postmaster General reverses controversial cutbacks. |
| 0:24.0 | Plus, they have a history of bad performance and scams. |
| 0:28.0 | So why are blank check companies booming this year? |
| 0:31.0 | I'm Dan Bobkoff, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:37.0 | There's a new contender in the race to acquire Tik-T reports that Oracle has held preliminary |
| 0:46.4 | talks with Tik-T's Chinese owner, Bight Dance, and was seriously considering purchasing |
| 0:51.5 | the apps operations in the U, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. |
| 0:56.2 | That's according to people briefed about the matter, who said Oracle was working with a group of US investors that already own a stake in Bightance, including General |
| 1:05.3 | Atlantic and Sequoia Capital. President Donald Trump said there's quote credible evidence |
| 1:11.3 | Bight Dance has used TikTok to breach US security. |
| 1:15.0 | He has vowed to shut the app down unless a US company takes it over by mid-November. |
| 1:20.0 | Microsoft has been in the lead to buy a big chunk of Tik-Tok and even |
| 1:24.8 | considered buying all of Tik-T's global operations, though a source tells the |
| 1:29.1 | FT that Bight Dance is opposed to selling its businesses in more than a few countries. |
| 1:34.0 | With Oracle in the running, Bight Dance now has a credible alternative to Microsoft's offer. Yesterday we told you about the turmoil in Belarus where President Alexander Lukashenko's |
| 1:49.2 | 26-year rule looks increasingly shaky. European leaders have been lining up to speak to Russia's President Vladimir Putin |
| 1:57.0 | to discuss what's happening there. |
| 1:59.0 | German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Charles Michel, President of the European Council, |
| 2:06.8 | all urged Mr. Putin to help steer the former Soviet Republic out of its political crisis. So what is Russia's interest in its neighbor and what outcome would suit the Kremlin? |
| 2:17.0 | Our Moscow Bureau Chief Henry Foy has more. |
... |
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