Did anyone seriously believe TikTok would ever be banned in the US?

To be honest, I believed the can would be kicked down the road indefinitely until we forgot that pesky law was ever signed.

But 2025, whenever the deadline loomed, everyone in social media had this in the back of their heads…

How can you build on a platform that has a chance, though small, to disappear?

No longer an issue! But now we can go through the slew of new issues!

I’ll break down the biggest concerns I’ve heard about regarding the new US TikTok.

Also in this edition:

🤔 Does Creator Rep M&A Work? (My New Opinion Section!)

🧾 MrBeast’s Salesforce Commercial Went From Tweet to Real

‼️ Netflix’s Big Week for Social Media Stars

✍🏽 Substack Launches a TV App

📱 Public Service Announcement: You Can Record in Public Places

💪🏼 Jobs from TikTok in this special ‘all TikTok’ job board!

🎭 …and a dank meme from yours truly!

Let’s get into it.

TLDR:

After Elon’s takeover of Twitter went so poorly, most of us are a bit nervous about new ownership of our favorite apps.

I spent a decade building 25,000 loyal Twitter followers only to have them all leave the app within a few months.

Ouch.

So will this happen to TikTok with new ownership?

Not likely. But we’re in the early days. So let’s do some wild speculation based on what we know so far.

Okay, now let’s talk about the mysterious Adam Presser who is stepping in as the new CEO.

Quick note: I had a chance to talk to someone who has worked very closely with him in the past who said he’s a great guy, so I may be biased.

But he seems experienced in the right ways.

Harvard Business. Harvard Law. Speaks Chinese. Lived in China for a while.

He cut his teeth in traditional Hollywood working at Warner Bros handling their Chinese business.

Once he settled into TikTok, he elevated to the Trust and Safety Chief, something that the new app will need in spades.

Of course it wouldn’t be the internet if a controversial statement from his past didn’t surface, so may I be the first to present to you the video that everyone is sharing on every social platform right now.

Good luck, new TikTok! We need you. Mostly to just not screw it all up!

It’s wild how many talent representation firms are getting bought these days.

Multiple per week.

But I’m someone who, throughout my career, has had my talent org acquired, have acquired talent orgs, and have acquired talent managers, so I have a unique look into all sides of this market.

So listen up talent reps, investors, and media conglomerates while I tell you the absolute truth:

Most of it is doomed.

When you acquire a company, you generally do so assuming that your combined powers will make something bigger.

1 + 1 = 3.

Or, in most M&A projections, 1 + 1 = 10…billion

But in talent representation, that simply isn’t how most companies are structured. Because they, at their core, are doing the same thing.

When you purchase a company, you do so on a multiple of revenue (how much money the company is bringing in), a multiple of EBITDA (how much money they’re hold onto), or enterprise value (market ownership, patents, that one mad scientist who figured out cold fusion).

When the #1 asset is ‘creators’, you’re buying short-term revenue (creators can and usually do leave eventually) on a multiple of revenue, or for more than the company makes in a year.

So that means one of two things have to be true:

Now you may be asking, “Phil, what about buying the team? If these are the people that grew such a great management org so it could eventually sell, can’t they do it again?”

Well, again, people leave companies.

I just popped into the LinkedIn profiles of my 10 favorite reps and most stay at each company around two or three years.

And if they’ve thrived at a company that does things one way, will they continue to thrive when they have to conform to a new culture, particularly one that has to create ‘efficiencies’ to make their investment worthwhile?

That’s historically been the bigger issues. People who thrive at small companies often thrive because they’re small companies, and once they have to sit in 10 hours of meetings per week to glaze corporate leadership, they become unhappy.

Look, I’m not saying all M&A is bad. I’ll point to Night Media and AMP. From an outsiders perspective, that felt like a huge win. Almost like they were acquiring executives that new how to run a business as big as Kai Cenat’s by way of the MrBeast experience.

But if you want to see the other side, talk to anyone in the MCN world when they were acquired by their respective media companies.

I went through it twice.

1 + 1 = nobody was happy.

The #1 way to determine whether talent rep M&A will work is to assess whether leadership at the acquiring entity is tactical, process-oriented, and able to foster a strong culture.

So get an expert if you’re on either side of that coin (I recommend my sponsor Rockwater Industries but, you know, I’m biased).

Most representation companies struggle to reach any one of these, nonetheless all three.

What creators, brands, governments, and platforms are making waves this week in the name of fortune, fame, and fun?

🧾 I know, it was probably staged, but it was cool that MrBeast sent a tweet saying he had a great Super Bowl commercial idea, Marc Benioff of Salesforce responded, and now it’s going to be a commercial with a $1 million giveaway. We all know Jimmy can move kids, but can he move B2B customers? I’ll be on the edge of my seat (because I plan to win that $1 million).

‼️ Netflix is all over creators, announcing a docu-series with Alix Earle, launching a K-pop band with Alan Chikin Chow, and talking a bit too much about YouTube on a recent earnings call. Is this a turning point or just another part of the ‘2016 trend’?

✍🏽 Substack, the newsletter app that has expanded into all sorts of subscriber-forward media, launched a TV app focused on videos and live streams from their ‘authors’. Let the fight for the living room begin…again!

📱 Public Service Announcement: With everything happening in Minneapolis and how important community journalism through social media has been in fighting misinformation by our own government, I would like to remind everyone that it is legal to record anyone you want in public (even government officials), you don’t not have to let people into your home without a judge-signed warrant, and any social media companies trying to censor your free speech should be reported. Stay safe out there, friends.

In honor of TikTok US’s announcement, it’s an all TikTok edition of the job board!

Marketing Lead- TikTok Gaming. TikTok

I was formerly the head of gaming creators at Facebook, North America so I can say with confidence: this will be challenging. Being the ‘gaming person’ at a social app not known for gaming is tricky. But it will allow you to be a vertical expert in a category that is undeniably huge.

MCN Agency Manager - TikTok Local Services - Los Angeles, TikTok

Come help the LA small business community! TikTok isn’t just lip syncs and floating cats (see above), it’s also a top search engine for Gen Z. WIth that in mind, an MCN agency manager for local services will get to work with exciting local companies to introduce orgs to all TikTok has to offer enterprises.

TikTok Shop - Category Strategy Manager, Collectibles & Luxury Resale, TikTok

If I didn’t already run a company, I would be trying to get this role. Working on TikTok Shop partners for Pokemon Cards and Rolexes? Is there anything more fun in all of social media than that? And if you look at the valuation of companies like WhatNot, you’ll see the size of this opportunity.