ByteDance Rejects Microsoft Offer for TikTok in the U.S.; Oracle Wins the Bid

Microsoft says after TikTok owner ByteDance rejected its bid, it's no more acquiring parts of TikTok's operations. After weeks of talks and very public back and forths involving the Trump administration, Microsoft ultimately failed in its attempts to gain TikTok.

"ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok's U.S. operations to Microsoft," says Microsoft in a statement. "We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok's users while protecting national security interests. To do this, we would have made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combatting disinformation, and we made these principles clear in our August statement. We look forward to seeing how the service evolves in these important areas."

Actually Microsoft confirmed last month that it was tracking a deal to buy TikTok's operations in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Reports also suggested Microsoft might be looking forward to purchasing all of TikTok's global operations, with the Financial Times hinting talks around this specific deal were at the "preliminary" stage.

Oracle Corp. won the bid for the U.S. operations of the TikTok app, people conversant with the matter said, and beating out Microsoft Corp. in a high-profile deal to retrieve a social-media sensation that has been caught in the mid of a geopolitical standoff.

In the U.S., Oracle has announced as TikTok's "trusted tech partner", and the deal may not be organized as a complete sale, the people shared.

Now it is the turn of White House and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to approve the deal, said one of the people, adding that the participants believe it gratifies the concerns around data security that have been previously raised by the U.S. government.

The move by Beijing-based ByteDance comes days after the Chinese government tossed negotiations into doubt when it issued new export restrictions late last month on the type of artificial intelligence technology used by TikTok.

The Oracle's deal structure wasn't immediately known, including whether it comprises the transfer of the algorithms.