Oracle reportedly beats out Microsoft in bid for TikTok

ByteDance, TikTok’s parent firm, has said that Oracle would be its “technology partner,” but it’s unclear what that entails. WSJ’s source also said that the deal likely won’t be “structured as an outright sale,” although the US enterprise tech titan is expected to have “a significant stake” in the business.

This comes after ByteDance turned down an offer from Microsoft on Sunday, according to The New York Times.

“ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft,” Microsoft said in a statement. “We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests.”

Trump said in August that he would ban TikTok in the US over concerns that the app would collect Americans’ personal data.

Timeline: How TikTok reached global fame and now faces a US ban

ByteDance founder Zhang Yimin and investors were reportedly reluctant to sell the app to Microsoft and might agree to a complete spinoff of TikTok instead.

While the sale talks are ongoing, Trump has signed two executive orders banning any US transactions with ByteDance as well as WeChat operator Tencent. TikTok has about 80 million monthly active users in the US.