Microsoft said on Sunday night that Chinese owner of social media app TikTok rejected their bid to take control of the firm’s U.S. operations, leaving Oracle the last publicly known remaining bidder.
President Trump issued an executive order in August that directed ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, to sell off its U.S. arm or cease operations in the country within 90 days, citing national security issues.
“ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Microsoft,” said Microsoft in a statement.
“We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests.”
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday night the Oracle, founded by Trump ally Larry Ellison, had won the bid. Oracle is one of the few Silicon Valley firms willing to ally with Trump.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in July that the U.S. was “looking at” banning TikTok and other Chinese social media apps. India has already banned TikTok.
TiTok’s U.S revenue alone is expected to reach $500-million this year, ten times more than what it generated in 2019 when the U.S. accounted for just 20% of its business.
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