Oracle is apparently seeking a bid to take over the popular social media app TikTok – with the support of President Trump.
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On August 14, President Trump released an executive order directing ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell all U.S. operations in the next 90 days and take away from all data collected through the popular app, calling a potential threat “to the national security of the United States.”
To that end, on August 6, he signed another executive order that would prevent China-based companies, such as TikTok, from doing business in the US. Trump began discussing similar actions against TikTok in late July, when he told reporters aboard Air Force One: “As far as TikTok is concerned, we ban them from the United States.”
Microsoft was the first major U.S. tech company to confirm, in an early August blog post, that it was considering acquiring TikTok’s U.S. assets. CNBC reported that it could go for as high as $ 30 billion.
Earlier this week, the New York Times, Axios, Guardian, and others reported that Oracle was preparing a rival bid for TikTok’s US operations.
On August 19, President Trump said that Oracle was a “great company” and, regarding a takeover of TikTok, said “it would certainly be someone who can handle it.”
