Jan 27 – U.S. President Donald Trump revealed on Monday that Microsoft (MSFT.O) is negotiating the acquisition of TikTok and expressed interest in seeing a competitive bidding process for the app.
Microsoft has declined to comment on the matter, and neither TikTok nor its Chinese owner ByteDance responded to Reuters’ inquiries outside regular business hours. TikTok, which has around 170 million users in the U.S., was briefly taken offline on Jan. 19, just before a law requiring ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban on national security grounds was set to take effect.
After assuming office on Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order delaying the enforcement of this law by 75 days. Last week, he mentioned discussions with various parties about TikTok’s acquisition and said a decision on the app’s future would likely come within 30 days. Trump also suggested that billionaire Elon Musk could buy the app, though Musk has not commented publicly.
On Sunday, AI startup Perplexity AI proposed merging with TikTok, with the U.S. government potentially receiving up to half of the new company, according to a source. This marks the second time Microsoft has been involved in potential talks to acquire TikTok. During Trump’s first term, he ordered TikTok to separate its U.S. operations from ByteDance, citing national security concerns.
Microsoft was a leading bidder in 2020, but those negotiations fell through, and the divestment push ended after Trump left office. Reflecting on the previous deal, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described it as the “strangest thing I’ve ever worked on,” noting that the U.S. government’s requirements ultimately faded away.
Source: Reuters
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