Microsoft is the latest Big Tech company to be linked to TikTok. On Monday, Jan. 27, President Donald Trump briefly confirmed that the company was once again in talks to acquire the US arm of the app.
To that end, when directly asked if Microsoft was involved, Trump said, “I would say yes. A lot of interest in TikTok. There’s great interest in TikTok.” Microsoft was previously in talks with Oracle about acquiring the app in 2020, but that deal fell through along with plans for a “ban or sell” law.
The law was then revisited in early 2024, and signed by Biden in April of that same year. Since then, Trump has issued an executive order to keep the app running for a further 75 days until they find a US buyer for the app.
What else did Trump say about TikTok?
Earlier on Jan. 27, Trump delivered a speech to Republican lawmakers about the future of the app, which he initially attempted to ban back in 2020.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “We’re going to have a lot of people bidding on it, and if we can save all that voice and all the jobs, and China won’t be involved, we don’t want China involved, but we’ll see what happens.”
There are a lot of bidders in the running to acquire TikTok. Perplexity AI has submitted a merger proposal, while billionaires Frank McCourt and Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson both made (separate) formal offers to buy the app. Reports also suggest that Elon Musk and Oracle are in talks to acquire TikTok, but ByteDance has since denied this.
With all this interest, Trump is encouraging others to make bids to buy the app.
“I like bidding wars because you make your best deal,” he added. “So if there’s a bidding war, that’s a good thing.”
