Andreessen Horowitz could join bid to buy out TikTok’s Chinese owners

Good morning and welcome again to FirstFT Asia. In in the present day’s e-newsletter:

• Andreessen Horowitz might be part of US TikTok bid

• China’s newest army workout routines round Taiwan

• Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund vows transparency

US enterprise capital large Andreessen Horowitz is in talks to put money into social media platform TikTok as a part of an effort led by Donald Trump to wrest management of the favored video app from its Chinese language house owners.

What we all know: The group, whose co-founder Marc Andreessen is a vocal supporter of the US president, is in talks so as to add new exterior funding that can purchase out TikTok’s Chinese language traders. The talks come as a part of a bid led by Oracle and different American traders to carve it out of its mother or father firm ByteDance. Andreessen Horowitz was approached as TikTok’s advisers and the White Home sought so as to add monetary firepower to ongoing discussions. The agency was strongly contemplating investing, mentioned three individuals accustomed to the discussions. 

Looming deadline: The Oracle-led bid lately emerged because the frontrunner forward of a deadline on April 5, when a federal legislation would ban the app within the US until its Beijing-based proprietor sells the American arm to non-Chinese language entities, in keeping with a number of individuals accustomed to the matter. 

Trump connections: Marc Andreessen’s shut ties to the Trump administration embrace serving to recruit workers for Elon Musk’s US authorities cost-cutting unit, whereas former Andreessen Horowitz common companion Sriram Krishnan is serving as a White Home adviser for synthetic intelligence. 

Here’s the full story — plus extra tech information beneath:

And right here’s what else we’re conserving tabs on in the present day:

• Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs: The US president might set off a $1.4tn commerce warfare in the present day when he plans to announce sweeping new tariffs on imported items. Here’s how the worse-case scenario could unfold.

• Financial information: March inflation figures are due from Singapore, South Korea and Australia.

• Benjamin Netanyahu: The Israeli prime minister will go to Hungary, defying an arrest warrant from the Worldwide Felony Courtroom over alleged warfare crimes in Gaza.

5 extra prime tales

1. China has begun large-scale army and coastguard workout routines round Taiwan, the most recent spherical in Beijing’s escalating marketing campaign to say its claims of sovereignty over the island nation. Two individuals briefed on the state of affairs mentioned the Shandong, a Chinese language plane service, was approaching waters 24 nautical miles off Taiwan’s coast yesterday, the closest it has ever been to the Taiwanese mainland. Here’s how Taipei responded.

2. Indonesia will run its colossal new sovereign wealth fund “like a public firm”, its chief funding officer mentioned as he acknowledged investor concerns about the governance of a car with $900bn in property. Danantara, which grew to become one of many world’s largest sovereign wealth funds in a single day when it launched final month, is ready to speculate billions of {dollars} into precedence sectors recognized by President Prabowo Subianto.

3. The US labour watchdog froze two instances towards Apple days after Trump nominated an legal professional who represents the tech group to be the company’s prime authorized official. The Nationwide Labor Relations Board filed a number of complaints towards the iPhone maker final yr alleging it intervened towards worker makes an attempt to organise, however abruptly pulled back from two of the cases late last week, in keeping with paperwork seen by the FT.

4. The EU has a “robust plan to retaliate” towards US tariffs anticipated in the present day, the president of the European Fee has mentioned. Ursula von der Leyen instructed the European parliament yesterday that the bloc was ready to hit companies exports including those from Big Tech companies if Trump imposed “reciprocal tariffs” on all imports into the US.

5. Automobile gross sales at China’s BYD soared 58 per cent within the first quarter in a stark distinction to an anticipated fall in demand for Tesla’s electrical vehicles, as European consumers shun Elon Musk’s brand. Analysts warned figures set to be launched in the present day for Tesla’s first-quarter gross sales had been prone to present a drop of greater than 10 per cent.

Information in-depth

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Buyers are pouring money into gold funds on the fastest pace since the Covid-19 pandemic, amid mounting issues over the financial impression of Trump’s commerce warfare.

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HTSI goes inside the Aman Nai Lert Bangkok, a brand new resort within the coronary heart of the Thai capital that pays homage to the person who formed the fashionable metropolis.