Oracle challenges Microsoft in the race to buy TikTok

The company has reportedly shown interest in its U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand operation.

What you need to know

• Another company has entered the race to buy TikTok.
• U.S. firm Oracle has reportedly shown interest.
• Microsoft seems to be the frontrunner in the race.

A report suggests U.S. firms Oracle has reportedly joined the race to purchase TikTok from ByteDance.

As reported by the Financial Times:

Oracle has entered the race to acquire TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned short video app that President Donald Trump has vowed to shut down unless it is taken over by a US company by mid-November, people briefed about the matter have said. 

The tech company co-founded by Larry Ellison had held preliminary talks with TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, and was seriously considering purchasing the app's operations in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the people said.

According to the report, Oracle is working with a group of U.S. investors who already own a stake in ByteDance. The report notes that until now, Microsoft was considered the frontrunner in the race to buy TikTok's U.S, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand businesses. The report says Oracle's interested "provided ByteDance with a credible alternative".

ByteDance is on the clock to sell TikTok following an executive order from President Trump stating that U.S. individuals and businesses would be banned from entering into transactions with the company unless it was sold within 90 days. President Trump recently extended the deadline, from that report:

The new executive order buys time for TikTok in the United States. The previous executive order that Trump issued last week banned transactions with Chinese owners of TikTok and WeChat, a move that effectively banned the popular social media app in the country in 45 days. The new order also orders ByteDance to, regardless of if it is able to divest in its business in the U.S., to destroy any data tied to users from the country.

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