Oracle tipped as buyer of TikTok’s U.S. business

Software giant Oracle has been tipped as a possible buyer of TikTok’s business in the U.S. with President Trump throwing his support behind such a deal.

The BBC reported:

US President Donald Trump has said tech giant Oracle would be “a great company” to take over TikTok’s US operations.

It comes after Oracle was reported as a possible buyer of the Chinese social media app’s business in North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Last week Mr Trump ordered TikTok’s owner ByteDance to sell its US business within 90 days or face being shut down

Oracle’s chairman Larry Ellison is a supporter of Mr Trump and held a fundraising event for him in February.

Mr Trump’s comments – during a speech in Yuma, Arizona – came after reports that Oracle was working on an offer for some TikTok assets with a group of ByteDance’s investors.

NBC’s Alex Sherman wrote, quoting a source in the know:

Oracle’s talks to acquire TikTok’s operations in four countries are ongoing and have accelerated in recent days, the person said, and it and Microsoft are far ahead of any other companies that have expressed interest, CNBC reports. While Microsoft has been working with the U.S. government to acquire TikTok’s assets for more than a month, Oracle’s co-founder and executive chairman Larry Ellison has expressed his support for President Donald Trump, whose administration has vowed to ban TikTok in the United States if Chinese owner ByteDance does not divest its U.S. operations by November. Ellison threw a campaign fundraising event for Trump earlier this year.

Bloomberg’s Nico Grant noted:

Oracle Corp.’s preliminary interest in making a bid for TikTok, on first glance, looks like an awkward fit — the 43-year-old software giant best known for legacy corporate databases and the music-video sharing app beloved by teens seem as different as two companies can be. But the match may not be as far-fetched as it first appears. The world’s second-largest software maker has approached investors including Sequoia Capital to partner on a bid for TikTok’s business in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg late Monday.