FirstFT: Andreessen Horowitz might be part of bid to purchase out TikTok’s Chinese language homeowners

Good morning and welcome again to FirstFT Asia. In at the moment’s e-newsletter:

• Andreessen Horowitz might be part of US TikTok bid

• China’s newest navy workouts round Taiwan

• Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund vows transparency

US enterprise capital big Andreessen Horowitz is in talks to spend money on 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 homeowners.

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 outdoors funding that may 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 guardian 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, stated three folks conversant in the discussions. 

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

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

Right here’s the total story — plus extra tech information beneath:

And right here’s what else we’re preserving tabs on at the moment:

• Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs: The US president might set off a $1.4tn commerce battle at the moment when he plans to announce sweeping new tariffs on imported items. Right here’s how the worse-case situation might 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 Prison Court docket over alleged battle crimes in Gaza.

5 extra prime tales

1. China has begun large-scale navy and coastguard workouts round Taiwan, the most recent spherical in Beijing’s escalating marketing campaign to claim its claims of sovereignty over the island nation. Two folks briefed on the state of affairs stated 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. Right here’s how Taipei responded.

2. Indonesia will run its colossal new sovereign wealth fund “like a public company”, its chief funding officer stated as he acknowledged investor issues in regards to the governance of a automobile with $900bn in property. Danantara, which turned 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 circumstances 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 again from two of the circumstances late final week, in line with paperwork seen by the FT.

4. The EU has a “strong plan to retaliate” towards US tariffs anticipated at the moment, the president of the European Fee has stated. Ursula von der Leyen instructed the European parliament yesterday that the bloc was ready to hit companies exports together with these from Huge Tech firms 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 shoppers shun Elon Musk’s model. Analysts warned figures set to be launched at the moment for Tesla’s first-quarter gross sales had been prone to present a drop of greater than 10 per cent.

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