On Monday, January 27th, President Trump confirmed to the media that Microsoft is in talks to acquire the overseas version of the Chinese short video platform, TikTok. He welcomes potential buyers to bid for the application.
Last year on April 24th, then-President Biden signed a bill requiring TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, within 270 days, or face being banned across the U.S.
On January 17, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States made a final ruling on the “sell or ban” case of TikTok, upholding the previous judgment of the federal court. This means TikTok must separate from ByteDance, otherwise, the application will be prohibited from use in the U.S. starting January 19th.
Before the Supreme Court’s ruling on the TikTok case took effect, on the evening of January 18th, TikTok was briefly removed from the U.S.
On January 20th, President Donald Trump returned to the White House and signed an executive order requesting a 75-day delay in the enforcement of the TikTok case by the Supreme Court.
Last week, Trump stated that he is discussing the possibility of acquiring TikTok with multiple potential buyers and may make a decision regarding the future of the application within 30 days.
Previously, Trump expressed openness to Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk acquiring TikTok. However, Musk has not publicly responded to this proposal.
A source told Reuters that the artificial intelligence startup company, Perplexity AI, proposed a merger with TikTok on Sunday, January 26th, where the U.S. government would receive up to half of the new company’s shares.
Microsoft’s ongoing negotiations indicate it is the second major potential buyer of TikTok, after being a key bidder in the TikTok separation case in 2020.
President Trump had previously demanded TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company to safeguard U.S. national security during his first term in office.
In 2020, Microsoft emerged as a significant bidder in the TikTok separation case, but the negotiations quickly collapsed. Trump’s push for the case also ended a few months later when his first term concluded.
(This article references reports from Reuters)