Oracle
According to reports, the technology giant is partnering with Trump administrators, alongside a group of investors to take control of TikTok’s global operations.
Officials from the company and the White House met on Friday [24th January 2025] to discuss a potential deal, with another meeting scheduled for later this week.
The move comes as Oracle has served as TikTok's US cloud provider, a partnership designed to address national security concerns following a failed attempt to ban the app during the Trump administration.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison, a supporter of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, was previously involved in a 2020 effort where Oracle and Walmart planned to acquire a 20% stake in TikTok Global, which would have included US operations and other unspecified regions.
However, the deal collapsed after Trump lost his re-election bid.
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Microsoft
Microsoft also remains a heavy hitter in the race to acquire TikTok. Back in 2020, the technology giant was in negotiations to purchase TikTok’s US operations.
In a blog post at the time, the company said: “Following a conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President Donald J. Trump, Microsoft is prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States.
“This new structure would build on the experience TikTok users currently love while adding world-class security, privacy, and digital safety protections. The operating model for the service would be built to ensure transparency to users as well as appropriate security oversight by governments in these countries.
“Among other measures, Microsoft would ensure that all private data of TikTok’s American users is transferred to and remains in the United States. To the extent that any such data is currently stored or backed-up outside the United States, Microsoft would ensure that this data is deleted from servers outside the country after it is transferred,” it added.
Perplexity AI
Alongside the big tech giants, Perplexity AI has put forward a revised proposal to TikTok's parent company ByteDance, claiming that the US government could own as much as 50% of a new entity combining Perplexity with TikTok's US operations.
The updated proposal, submitted last week, builds on a previous plan presented by the AI start-up TikTok's parent company, on 18 January, the day before the TikTok ban law went into effect.
As a result, the initial proposal aims to create a new structure that would merge the company with TikTok's US business, along with investments from other investors.
Tesla
Chinese government officials have explored the possibility of selling TikTok’s US operations to Tesla CEO Elon Musk as China navigates its relationship with President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported.
Musk, who already owns Twitter (now X), Tesla and SpaceX, posted in August last year: " In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the 𝕏 platform. Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.”
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