American tech giant Microsoft said Sunday its offer to buy TikTok was rejected, leaving Oracle as the sole remaining bidder ahead of the imminent deadline for the Chinese-owned video app to sell or shut down its US operations.
TikTok is at the center of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing, and President Donald Trump has set Americans a mid-September deadline to stop doing business with its Chinese parent company ByteDance -- effectively compelling a sale of the app to a US company.
The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that Oracle had won the bidding war, citing people familiar with the deal, although the company did not immediately confirm that to AFP.
But two Chinese state media outlets -- CGTN and China News Service -- said Monday that ByteDance will not sell TikTok to Oracle either, citing unnamed sources.
The Oracle bid would need approval from the White House and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a source told the Journal, with both parties under the belief it would meet US data security concerns.
Microsoft had indicated at the beginning of August that it was interested in acquiring TikTok's US operations, but announced Sunday that bid had been rejected.
"ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok's US operations to Microsoft," it said in a statement.
"We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok's users, while protecting national security interests."
In early August, Trump issued an executive order stating that if ..
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