Microsoft is negotiating for TikTok acquisition, says Trump

According to President Donald Trump’s Monday announcement, Microsoft is negotiating to buy TikTok. Trump also welcomes a bidding war over the app.

The social platform TikTok, which serves 170 million users in the United States, went offline temporarily on January 19 before a regulating law came into force. North American national security regulations force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its ownership of the app or face an imminent operational ban.

According to a Reuters report, Microsoft has tried acquiring the Chinese platform previously as well. In Trump’s first term, President Trump voiced security concerns about TikTok and pushed for its American operations to become independent from ByteDance.

By 2020, Microsoft had positioned itself as the chief bidder to take over the video-making platform, yet it had failed to formulate a successful agreement. TikTok divestment talks reached no conclusion shortly before Donald Trump ended his presidential term.

Reflecting on the 2020 negotiations, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described it as “the strangest thing I’ve ever worked on.” He later commented that the U.S. government had strict conditions for the deal that eventually “just disappeared.”

After his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, Trump signed an order postponing the ByteDance divestment rule for 75 days.

Trump to make decision for Tiktok acquisition within 30 days

President Trump confirmed last week that he was discussing the app’s potential future with multiple parties and expected to reach a decision in the coming month. He also expressed his favor of Elon Musk acquiring it if he is interested. However, Musk has not commented on the offer.

According to insiders, AI startup Perplexity AI put forward a proposal to merge with TikTok last Sunday, which included the possibility of the U.S. government acquiring 50% ownership in the new entity.

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