Google wants a piece of TikTok’s pie, and purchasing Firework could take it

With more than one billion active users, TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social networks in history. Google sees that success and wants a piece of the pie. That’s why, according to The Washington Journal, Google is considering acquiring Firework, a US-based video sharing platform.

Firework is currently a part of a suite of apps by Redwood City, California, based company Loop Now Technologies. It has more than one million registered iOS and Android users, and it just launched in India last month. Firework is valued at more than $100 million, while TikTok is a Chinese financial giant valued at $75 billion.

Though Firework is only a sliver of what TikTok is, Firework’s future is promising, and Google sees that. Chinese microblogging platform Weibo is also interested in a Firework acquisition, but Google is further along in the process.

Like TikTok, Firework lets users post, share, and repost short videos to their profile. What Firework offers is longer 30-second video clips and a unique, Snapchat Spectacle-esque video rotation feature called “Reveal.”

Reveal allows the user to record vertical and horizontal video simultaneously. As viewers rotate the screen while watching a clip, the video auto reveals more of the scene.

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Google has had success in the past with acquisitions. YouTube, Nest, and even Android are projects Google purchased and further developed. Some might even say its acquisitions are more successful than its own projects, considering the ever-growing graveyard of Google apps and services.

Time will tell if Google eventually acquires Firework or not and if Google will turn it into a true TikTok competitor or just another victim left in its wake.