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Trump: Microsoft also in talks to buy TikTok

Trump: Microsoft also in talks to buy TikTok

US President Donald Trump has indicated that Microsoft is currently negotiating a takeover of TikTok. Ideally, however, he would like to see American technology companies bid against each other on this.

In the United States, the recent situation surrounding the social media platform TikTok has taken a new turn. President Trump states that Microsoft is in talks with Chinese owner Bytedance about a takeover, Reuters writes.

The negotiations stem from the U.S. law banning the social media app in the United States on national security grounds. This law was passed under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden and went into effect just before the transfer of power.

However, the current president immediately granted TikTok a 75-day reprieve to get things in order. Last week, Trump indicated that within a month, TikTok’s future in the United States would become clear.

Bidding process

Trump has also made it clear that he prefers to see a possible acquisition of the social media app in the U.S. through a process in which American technology companies bid against each other. Thus, he has indicated he would not object if entrepreneur and Trump adviser Elon Musk wanted to acquire the app. Musk already owns social media platform X.

AI startup Perplexity AI also recently proposed an acquisition of the U.S. TikTok business, according to Reuters. This would see the AI specialist merge with the social media app and the U.S. government get to own half of the new company.

In addition, Oracle appears to have possible renewed interest in an acquisition of TikTok.

Microsoft negotiated before

This is not the first time Microsoft has negotiated with Bytedance for TikTok’s U.S. operations. A similar situation played out during Trump’s first term. Then, just before Biden took over the presidency, negotiations broke down.

TikTok and Bytedance are not commenting on the current talks over U.S. operations.

Read more: Oracle makes moves to acquire TikTok