Donald Trump announced yesterday (27/01) that Microsoft is discussing acquiring TikTok, as part of the US government's efforts to avoid banning the platform in the US.
"TikTok is generating a lot of interest, there's a lot of interest in TikTok. I like bidding wars because they allow you to get the best deal possible," the US President said, while declining to name the other companies seeking to acquire TikTok, but assuring that they are "high-level companies."
The history
Access to TikTok, which is used by about 170 million Americans, was disrupted in the US for a few hours in mid-January, shortly before legislation adopted in the country took effect that requires its parent company, China's ByteDance, to sell the platform or it will be banned in the US from January 19.
After being sworn in as US president on January 20, Trump signed an executive order postponing the implementation of the legislation by 75 days.
Last week, the US president said he was in talks with multiple people about buying TikTok, adding that a decision on the future of the popular platform could be made within a month. Trump has also suggested that ByteDance give the US 50% of TikTok's capital in exchange for not enforcing the law. Washington could then give that percentage to US private interests.
According to NPR, the Trump administration is trying to form a group of investors around Oracle (the company that provides cloud services to TikTok) to take over the platform's algorithm and data, while ByteDance will remain as a minority shareholder. Trump has also said in the past that he is open to the possibility of billionaire Elon Musk buying TikTok if he wants to, although the world's richest man has not commented publicly on the possibility.
The current reported talks with Microsoft are the second time the company has discussed acquiring TikTok. During his first term as president, Trump sought to ban the platform in the US, citing national security concerns. In 2020, Microsoft was touted as a leading company interested in buying it, but talks soon fell through.
Source: cnn.gr
