Reuter has reported that U.S. President Donald Trump informed reporters on Monday that Microsoft (MSFT.O) is in discussions to acquire TikTok. According to Reuters, Trump also supported a competitive bidding war over the highly popular app.
Microsoft declined to comment, while TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment outside regular business hours.
TikTok, with roughly 170 million U.S. users, was temporarily taken offline earlier this month ahead of a deadline for ByteDance to either sell the app or face a ban due to national security concerns.
On Sunday, AI startup Perplexity AI proposed a merger with TikTok, offering the U.S. government a potential stake in the new entity, a source told Reuters.
This marks Microsoft’s second attempt to acquire TikTok. During Trump’s first term, the administration demanded ByteDance divest TikTok’s U.S. operations over security fears. Microsoft emerged as a leading bidder in 2020, but negotiations collapsed, and the divestment push ended after Trump left office.
Reflecting on the failed 2020 deal, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described it as “the strangest thing I’ve ever worked on,” noting that U.S. government requirements at the time “just disappeared.”
