ByteDance kicks ball into Trump’s court by rejecting Microsoft and picking Oracle to partner with TikTok in the US

Future of video-sharing app in the US remains unclear until people know for certain that ByteDance-Oracle partnership will persuade Trump to drop his ban

The deal reached by ByteDance will have Oracle take over the management of TikTok’s US operations

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Published: 7:00pm, 14 Sep 2020Updated: 4:10pm, 15 Oct 2020

Oracle Corp has won the race to secure TikTok’s American operations, according to multiple reports citing people familiar with the talks, after main rival Microsoft Corp said its offer for the video app had been rejected.

ByteDance’s reported acceptance of Oracle as the operator of TikTok in the US is the culmination of an intensive power play by a number of heavyweight technology companies and their investment backers, the White House and Beijing over the past few weeks.

But the future in the US for the video-sharing app, which has been a viral hit among youngsters globally, remains unclear until it is known for certain that the proposed ByteDance-Oracle partnership will persuade the Trump administration to drop its ban, according to analysts and experts.

Microsoft, widely perceived as the front runner to take over the US business of TikTok, ended its bid on Sunday saying in a statement that it had been told by ByteDance that the US operations would not be sold to it – hours after the Post reported that ByteDance had made it clear that the proprietary algorithm that powers TikTok was not for sale.

ByteDance declined to comment on the Oracle deal on Monday. Oracle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zhang Yiming, founder and global chief executive of ByteDance. Photo: Bloomberg

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