Microsoft confirmed in early August that it was considering a purchase of TikTok’s US arm.Now it comes on the heels of a report this weekend from the China Morning Post that ByteDance was unwilling to sell its highly effective algorithm to a US bidder. The company issued a brief statement on Sunday confirming that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, rejected its offer to buy TikTok’s US operations. Meanwhile, ByteDance seems hover to announce a deal with Oracle, the only other known US company left in the bidding war.
Microsoft did not specify what changes to the service it had proposed. However, today’s announcement from To keeping users hooked on the service, an American buyer would have had to rewrite the underlying code that has been so essential to the service’s success. According to the report, ByteDance informed both US officials and would-be buyers of its decision.
With Microsoft out of the race, The New York Times reports that Oracle is the only known American suitor. The Wall Street Journal is in fact reporting tonight that Oracle has been selected as the winner, though as of this writing this has not been confirmed by ByteDance, Oracle or US officials.
The Wall Street Journal adds that “Oracle is set to be announced as TikTok’s ‘trusted tech partner’ in the U.S., and the deal is likely not to be structured as an outright sale.” A source familiar with the matter confirmed to Engadget as well that Tik Tok plans to move forward with Oracle, though the terms of the deal, and whether it can even be considered an acquisition per se, remain unclear.
Post Your Comments