Trump says Microsoft in talks to buy TikTok, wants bidding war over app

Newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump said that software giant Microsoft is in talks to buy social media site TikTok.

Trump added that he would also like to see a bidding war over the app, Reuters reported.

This follows Trump's announcement on Jan. 25 that he was in talks with multiple people about acquiring TikTok and would likely make a decision within the next 30 days.

Trump has also stated that he was open to tech billionaire Elon Musk buying TikTok, but Musk has not publicly commented on Trump's offer.

According to Reuters, Microsoft declined to comment, while TikTok and ByteDance (TikTok's China-based owner) did not respond to Reuter's requests for comment as of publication.

Bringing it back

Trump proposed to ban TikTok during his first presidential term in 2020.

After taking office, former U.S. President Joe Biden said he would sign a bill that banned TikTok if Congress passed it.

In 2024, a bipartisan bill passed in the House of Representatives and then the Senate to ban TikTok if its parent company, ByteDance, based in Beijing, China, did not sell the app to owners acceptable to the U.S. government.

Biden signed the bill in May 2024.

TikTok then sued the U.S. government over the ban, but the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law in a rare unanimous decision.

However, Trump appeared to have a change of heart about TikTok, saying in December 2024, after his election victory, that the app helped his popularity with youth voters.

On Jan. 17, the United States Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law requiring ByteDance to divest itself from TikTok.

The app was subsequently banned on Jan. 19 as TikTok could not find a buyer mutually acceptable to the U.S. government, China and its parent company ByteDance.

About 170 million American users were affected when TikTok went offline for a period of about 24 hours.

Trump signed an executive order seeking to delay the ban by 75 days, upon which TikTok restored its services.

Top photos via Unsplash