Platform
Trump Says Microsoft Makes Second Attempt To Buy TikTok U.S.
Microsoft Corporation has entered discussions to acquire TikTok U.S., according to President Donald Trump, marking the tech giant’s second attempt to purchase the popular social media platform.
Trump, who told reporters about the potential deal on Monday, January 27, noted he would welcome a bidding war for the app.
As Reuters reports, the talks come as TikTok, which counts approximately 170 million American users, faces renewed pressure in the U.S. under a recently enacted law requiring Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the platform or face a nationwide ban. The app briefly went offline just before the law took effect on January 19.
Trump’s January 20 executive order has delayed enforcement by 75 days, creating a window for potential buyers to emerge. The President indicated last week that he expects to make a decision about TikTok’s future within one month.
New Players Enter Discussion
Beyond Microsoft, other potential buyers have surfaced. Trump previously expressed openness to Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquiring the platform, though Musk has not publicly responded.
AI startup Perplexity AI proposed a merger structure that would reportedly give the U.S. government up to half of the resulting company’s future ownership.
Microsoft’s First Attempt at TikTok
This represents Microsoft’s second attempt to acquire TikTok. In 2020, during Trump’s first term, the company emerged as a leading bidder following a presidential order for TikTok to separate from ByteDance over national security concerns. Those negotiations ultimately collapsed.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella later characterized the 2020 attempt as “the strangest thing I’ve ever worked on,” noting in 2021 that the U.S. government had established specific requirements before the deal “just disappeared.”
Microsoft, TikTok, and ByteDance have not responded to Reuters’ requests for comment on the current discussions.