Donald Trump has suggested that Microsoft is in discussions to acquire TikTok and expressed a desire to see a bidding war for the app.
When asked if Microsoft was negotiating to buy the app, the US president replied, “I would say yes,” adding “A lot of interest in TikTok. There’s great interest in TikTok.”
Microsoft, TikTok, and ByteDance did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment after the US president’s remarks aboard Air Force One on Monday.
These talks mark the second time Microsoft has been in talks to acquire TikTok. During his first term, Trump ordered TikTok to separate its US operations from ByteDance due to national security concerns.
Microsoft was a leading bidder in 2020, but negotiations collapsed, and Trump’s push for divestment ended months later when he left office.
TikTok, which has around 170 million American users, was briefly taken offline earlier this month, just before a law requiring its Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell it on national security grounds or face a ban, set to take effect on January 19.
After taking office on January 20, Trump signed an executive order to delay the enforcement of the law by 75 days.
Last week, Trump stated that he was in talks with several parties about acquiring TikTok and expected to make a decision on the app’s future within 30 days.
The US president previously said he was open to Elon Musk buying TikTok if the Tesla CEO was interested, although Musk has not publicly commented on the proposal.
Recently, AI startup Perplexity AI proposed merging with TikTok, with the US government potentially receiving up to half of the new company, according to a source who spoke to Reuters on Sunday.
In 2021, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described the TikTok acquisition talks as “the strangest thing I’ve ever worked on.”
The US government had a “particular set of requirements and then it just disappeared,” he said.
Source
- Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok, Trump claims – The Guardian