Trump: Microsoft to buy over TikTok
Microsoft is negotiating to buy over TikTok, said US president Donald Trump.
He previously said he was discussing a possible purchase of TikTok and would decide within a month.
It was also previously reported that software company Oracle and investors intended to take control of the social media app.
Under the deal being negotiated by the White House, TikTok’s China-based owner, ByteDance, would retain a stake in the company, but data collection and software updates would be overseen by Oracle, which already provides the foundation of TikTok’s Web infrastructure, one of the sources told Reuters.
However, Trump said he had not spoken to Oracle’s Larry Ellison about buying the app.
Asked if he was putting together a deal with Oracle and other investors to save TikTok, Trump said: “No, not with Oracle. Numerous people are talking to me, very substantial people, about buying it and I will make that decision probably over the next 30 days.
US search engine startup Perplexity AI has revised the merger proposal it had submitted to ByteDance to create a new entity combining Perplexity and TikTok US, a person familiar with the proposal told Reuters on Sunday.
The proposal calls for the US government to own up to 50 per cent of the new company upon a future initial public offering (IPO), the person said.
A Perplexity document shared with ByteDance and new investors proposed the creation of a new US holding company called “NewCo”, the person said.
Under the proposal, ByteDance would sell TikTok US to the investors, which would give TikTok’s existing investors equity in the company. The proposal would also exclude TikTok’s core recommendation algorithm, which ByteDance would keep, the person said.
The US government would own up to half of the new structure once it goes through an IPO of a valuation of at least US$300 billion.
Perplexity AI would also offer to be acquired by the holding company if its own investors received a distribution of the NewCo equity, the person said.