Microsoft in Contention to Buy TikTok, According to Trump
Microsoft is reportedly in talks with TikTok to buy the app, at least that’s according to President Trump who also says he would like to see a bidding war.
Reporters asked Trump on Monday whether Microsoft was going to bid for the maligned app. “I would say yes,” Trump replied before also adding that there was “great interest in TikTok” from several companies.
Reuters reports that Microsoft has previously been in talks to buy TikTok. In 2020, when Trump first ordered TikTok to divest itself of its U.S. operations, Microsoft was in the leading pack to buy the app but talks collapsed after Trump left office. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the government had a “particular set of requirements and then it just disappeared.” Nadella called that deal the “strangest thing I’ve ever worked on.”
Previous reports suggested that Elon Musk was a potential buyer for TikTok, something that the president says he is open to if the Tesla CEO is interested.
A buyer for the U.S. arm of TikTok has been sought for years. In his first term, Trump was the first president to pressure parent company ByteDance to sell the app. His successor President Biden signed a law that called for the Chinese-based parent company Bytedance to divest or be banned.
That law came into effect on January 19 — one day before the inauguration. Trump signed an executive order to delay TikTok’s ban for 75 days, giving the Chinese-owned video app more time to find a U.S. buyer.
TikTok did temporarily go offline for American users but came back shortly after Trump provided assurances to ByteDance.
The ban has proven to be generally unpopular. There are an estimated 170 million users of the app in the United States, many of whom rely on it for income and networking. However, the ban stems from security concerns. The U.S. government is essentially worried that the ruling Chinese Communist Party can demand ByteDance hand over any information it may hold on U.S. citizens.
Last week, Trump said that there are multiple parties in talks about buying TikTok and there will likely be a decision on the app’s future in a month’s time.
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