Equity Monday: The TikTok saga rolls on as earnings season starts to wrap

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest big news, chats about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here, and myself here, and don’t forget to check out last Friday’s episode.

This morning was a bit of a grab-bag of news, but of course we had to start off with the biggest story from the past few weeks:

• It’s TikTok around the clock: News broke recently that Twitter could be interested in TikTok after Apple came and somewhat went as a possible suitor. What matters is that Microsoft is not a full-lock on TikTok’s exit. No word lately on whether the Trump administration’s decision to try to extort a chunk of the sale price will go through. (It won’t.)
• TikTok may sue the Trump administration as early as this week over its possible forced sale.
• Do startup culture, venture capital and mental health mix well?
• Amazon is talking about turning some malls into fulfillment centers; TechCrunch has more.
• The huge wealth of major tech companies is only growing, meaning that a rising share of the public market run is based on a handful of big-tech results.
• Flipkart is building an accelerator.
• Expert System has raised $29.4 million, while Palmetto has raised $29 million, and Silverfort put together a $30 million round. How’s that for three rounds of the same size?

All that and earnings season is largely behind us, leaving tech companies generally unscathed. So, the good times will persist for a while yet. Have a great week!