Trump says Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok

28/1/2025 12:47

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a bidding war over the app.



TikTok, which has about 170 million American users, was briefly taken offline just before a law requiring its Chinese owner ByteDance to either sell it on national security grounds or face a ban took effect on Jan. 19.



Trump said last week that he was in talks with multiple people over buying TikTok and would likely have a decision on the popular app's future in 30 days.



The U.S. president has previously said that he was open to billionaire Elon Musk buying the social media app if the Tesla CEO wanted to do so. Musk, however, has not publicly commented on Trump's offer.



More recently, AI startup Perplexity AI on Sunday made a proposal to merge with TikTok, with the U.S. government getting up to half of the new company in future, a source told Reuters on Sunday.



The reported talks mark the second time that Microsoft has been in the frame to acquire TikTok.