Microsoft is officially out of the race in buying TikTok’s US operations. The company has confirmed it in an official statement saying, “ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft.”
Last month, Microsoft confirmed it is in talks with Bytedance to acquire TikTok’s operations in the US, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
Oracle was another big name running in the race to acquire TikTok’s US business. Now when Microsoft is officially not getting the deal, Oracle will most likely get the deal.
US President Trump has already threatened a September 15th deadline for a TikTok sale. He has already confirmed there will be no extension of the TikTok deadline. After that, the US government will block TikTok in the US. So, Bytedance doesn’t have much time to decide.
TikTok business sale has hit the roadblock after China’s update of the technology export rule that is also applicable to Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. China has already made it clear that it could see TikTok getting blocked in the US rather than a forced deal from a US company.
TikTok is already banned in India where it has a large number of userbase. Now the US has also threatened to do the same. Bytedance is already suffering a big crisis. If the US also bans app operations, Bytedance could lose several other markets.
