Donald Trump: Multiple US Companies, Including Microsoft, Compete To Acquire TikTok in a ‘Bidding War’

• A bidding war is heating up between buyers of TikTok’s U.S. operations, President Donald Trump revealed.
• Trump extended the deadline for TikTok to find a sale before it faced a nationwide ban in the U.S.
• The President said there would likely be a decision on the app’s future in 30 days.

A bidding war is heating up between U.S. companies to acquire TikTok, Donald Trump has revealed, after issuing an executive order to give the Chinese-owned platform more time to find a buyer.

According to the President, tech giant Microsoft is among the companies looking to purchase TikTok, a previous top bidder in 2020.

As more U.S. companies move to make bids, TikTok will be racing to make a decision before the April deadline when its national ban is due to kick in.

Microsoft In Talks With TikTok

On Monday, President Trump revealed new interest in the video-sharing app to reporters.

When asked if Microsoft was one of the companies looking to take control of TikTok, Trump said , “I would say yes,” continuing, “There’s a lot of interest in TikTok. There’s great interest in TikTok.”

The comments follow Microsoft’s previous moves to acquire the China-owned video-sharing app during Trump’s first term in 2020.

Five years ago, Trump ordered TikTok to separate from the U.S. version of ByteDance, claiming it was a threat to national security.

Microsoft was reportedly a top bidder at the time, but Trump’s push to sell the app was unsuccessful before he left office.

Trump’s second term has shown his views to have changed considerably, with the President changing his perspective on national security concerns.

The President questioned last week whether it’s “that important for China to be spying on young people, on young kids watching crazy videos.”

TikTok Bidding War

Talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump explained that U.S. companies were currently embroiled in a bidding war to purchase TikTok.

The President, who notoriously loves making deals, said he liked “bidding wars because you make your best deals.”

Numerous companies seem to be fighting for TikTok’s approval to take it over, many of which have different requirements.

Trump recently pushed back on a report that Oracle is considering buying TikTok, claiming he “never spoke” to billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

Although TikTok has previously said its algorithm was strictly not for sale, Oracle already provides the foundation of its web infrastructure.

Trump said there would likely be a decision on the app’s future in 30 days.

Donald Trump’s Ideal TikTok Outcome

The president previously said he is looking for the winning bidder to give the U.S. a 50% stake in the company.

As of right now, the details of what this means remain unclear—but some companies are already looking to appease the President’s demands in their bids.

California-based conversational search engine company Perplexity AI submitted a bid to merge with TikTok’s U.S. operations, with 50% handed to the U.S. government in a future initial public offering.

Unlike previous acquisition attempts, Perplexity AI has pitched a merger, allowing investors in ByteDance to retain their stakes.

Trump previously said he would be happy for Tesla boss Elon Musk to purchase the app, but Musk has not publicly commented on his intentions.