What happened
Shares of Fastly (FSLY 4.43%) fell as much as 6.4% on Friday morning. The content delivery network specialist counts Chinese social media network TikTok as its largest customer, and that revenue stream will dry up unless TikTok owner ByteDance finds a buyer for the American part of the service before Sept. 15. On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump said that he won't extend that deadline for any reason.
So what
Speaking to reporters while boarding a flight to Michigan, Trump didn't mince words.
"We will either close up TikTok in this country for security reasons, or it'll be sold," Trump said. "I'm not extending deadlines. No. It's September 15. There will be no extension of the TikTok deadline."
That statement lowered the possibility of completing a sale before the shutdown order takes effect.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
ByteDance is holding advanced negotiations with at least two groups to find a domestic buyer for the American part of its service, but the Sept. 15 deadline is drawing near and the talks have not resulted in a clear-cut deal yet. TikTok was reportedly close to announcing a winner between Microsoft and Oracle in August, but the Chinese government stepped in with new export regulations that would require government approval of any deal.
Oracle had a chance to provide an update last night in its first-quarter earnings report and analyst call, but CEO Safra Catz made it clear that the company wouldn't answer any TikTok questions.
TikTok accounted for 12% of Fastly's revenue over the last two quarters. Less than half of these sales were related to the American portion of TikTok's operations, so Fastly's exposure to the threatened shutdown of TikTok's domestic service works out to less than 6% of its total revenue.
