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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called earlier talks to acquire TikTok the strangest thing he had ever worked on. (GeekWire Photo Illustration)
The potential for Microsoft to acquire TikTok is looping back around again like a viral social dance clip on endless repeat.
Speaking with reporters Monday night on Air Force One, President Donald Trump was asked if Microsoft is among the companies in discussions to buy TikTok.
“I would say yes,” Trump said, according to Bloomberg News and others. “A lot of interest in TikTok. There’s great interest in TikTok.”
Microsoft declined to comment on Trump’s remark. Such negotiations would revisit talks that date back several years, with a new deadline now looming for the sale of the popular social video app.
It’s not clear if Microsoft would be interested on its own or as part of a larger group. NPR reported over the weekend that the Trump administration is “working on a plan to save TikTok that involves tapping software company Oracle and a group of outside investors to effectively take control of the app’s global operations,” citing two knowledgeable people.
The NPR report added, “Other potential investors who are engaged in the talks include Microsoft.”
Trump told reporters Monday that he’d like to see a bidding war, Reuters reported.
Such an acquisition wouldn’t fit the profile of Microsoft’s existing business, but that would be part of the point. It would expand the tech giant’s footprint into an area of the tech economy where it doesn’t have a big presence.
Access to TikTok’s data and user base would no doubt be part of the appeal, and it would give Microsoft a whole new area for deploying and learning from emerging AI technologies. LinkedIn’s push into short-form video would also make the acquisition complementary with at least part of Microsoft’s business-oriented social network.
Another big plus: Given the involvement and potential encouragement from the Trump administration, the regulatory hurdles wouldn’t be the same as if the company was bringing a big M&A deal in for approval on its own.
TikTok was taken offline and then brought back to life in advance of a Jan. 19 ban resulting from U.S. legislation based on national security concerns. Upon taking office Jan. 20, President Trump signed an executive order delaying the ban for 75 days but said he would like to see the issue effectively resolved within 30 days.
The issue dates back to 2020, when Microsoft was in talks with TikTok’s owner ByteDance to acquire its operations in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In his first term at the time, President Trump was threatening to ban TikTok in the U.S. due to privacy and security concerns.
As reported at the time, the talks failed after Microsoft insisted on acquiring full control of TikTok’s operations, data, source code and algorithms. Microsoft declined to settle for a lesser deal that didn’t put those assets under its control.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in 2021 called the TikTok talks the strangest thing he has ever worked on, for reasons including the Trump administration’s fleeting interest in the issue.
Ultimately, TikTok struck a partnership with Oracle and Walmart that was later shelved by the Biden administration.
ByteDance has grabbed significant office space in Bellevue, Wash., in recent years, where it reportedly intends to attract regional tech talent for an aggressive TikTok expansion into online shopping.
