Microsoft Offers to Buy TikTok Following Trump Crackdown

The Trump administration just gave TikTok just 45 days to sell — or get kicked out of the US.

Make It American

Over the weekend, the Trump administration gave TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance 45 days to sell off the app — or get kicked out of the US market, Reuters reports.

Microsoft is circling the news like a shark and has officially confirmed in a blog post that it's interested in buying TikTok operations in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. That means the US software company has 45 days to make the move.

So Desperate

"Microsoft will move quickly to pursue discussions with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, in a matter of weeks, and in any event completing these discussions no later than September 15, 2020," the company wrote in the blog post.

Microsoft shares surged 4.5 percent after markets opened today following the news.

According to Reuters, Trump stepped away from plans to ban TikTok in the US after Republican advisers told him the move would just end up alienating users and hurt his reelection chances in November. The move would also be met with plenty of lengthy and expensive legal challenges.

Witch Hunt

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) will oversee negotiations between Microsoft and ByteDance. No exact sales figures have been announced. ByteDance has yet to even make an offer.

China-US relations are at an all time low. Chinese state-backed newspaper China Daily called out the US for starting a "witch hunt."

READ MORE: Trump administration gives TikTok 45 days to sell to Microsoft or leave US [Ars Technica]

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