ByteDance Ditches Microsoft Over Oracle As Deadline Looms Over Sale of TikTok's US Operations

Oracle-TikTok deal: Oracle will be ByteDance's technology partner and take over the management of TikTok's US user data but it not clear whether the US technology giant keen on acquisition of the social media app will also take a majority ownership stake in the company

(Representative Image/Getty)

San Francisco: The popular Chinese video-sharing app TikTok, that grabbed attention worldwide because of its security concerns, has rejected the bid by US tech giant Microsoft even as the company is under pressure to meet the deadline to sell or shut down its US operations. Although the company has declined the Microsoft bid it has chosen Cloud major Oracle to run its US operations as a 'trusted tech partner', as per the news agency IANS. ALSO READ | "Nation Stands Behind Soldiers" Says PM Modi As Oppn Set To Corner Govt In Parliament Over China Border, Falling Economy Today There has been no official announcement yet. As per the report in New York Times, it is not clear whether the US technology giant keen on acquiring the social media app will also take a majority ownership stake in the company. The report hints at Oracle aiding the Chinese TikTok's US operations with its Cloud technologies, but may not mean an outright sale. In an official statement, Microsoft said its bid for TikTok operations in the US was rejected. "ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok's US operations to Microsoft. We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok's users, while protecting national security interests," Microsoft said. The statement further added, "To do this, we would have made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combating disinformation, and we made these principles clear in our August statement." Soon after India has banned TikTok including 58 other Chinese apps, the Donald Trump administration in the US increased pressure on the ByteDance-owned platform to sell its US operations by mid-September or face a ban. According to NYT, Oracle has developed close ties with the Trump administration.  "Its founder, Larry Ellison, hosted a fund-raiser for Trump this year, and its chief executive, Safra Catz, served on the president's transition team and has frequently visited the White House". In fact Trump has also expressed support to Oracle in buying TikTok. In this context , Trump mentioned Oracle would be certainly somebody that could handle it. Trump maintained there will be "no extension of the TikTok deadline". In view of acquisitions of new clients in both Cloud applications and infrastructure businesses, Oracle managed to deliver better than expected results for its FY21 first quarter results. The company generated $9.4 billion in revenue which was up 2 per cent compared to the same period last year. While China has lashed out at the US administration's deadline for TikTok sale saying the move tantamount to "coercive robbery". "The tricks of economic bullying and political manipulation that the US played on non-American companies are tantamount to coercive robbery," said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson over the weekend.