Trump backs Oracle bid for Tiktok’s US business
US President Trump has thrown his weight behind Oracle’s mooted bid for Tiktok, saying the software giant would be a “great company” to take over the hit video app.
It follows reports that Oracle has held discussions with Chinese parent company Bytedance over an offer for Tiktok’s operations in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Speaking at an event in Yuma, Arizona, Trump said he believed Oracle “would be certainly somebody that could handle it”.
Oracle’s founder — billionaire Larry Ellison — is one of the world’s richest people and a vocal supporter of Trump.
Earlier this year Ellison hosted a fundraiser for the president at his private estate in California.
The race to snap up parts of Tiktok’s global operation comes after Trump threatened to ban the app unless it is taken over by an American company by mid-November.
The president stated there was “credible evidence” the app was being used to breach US security — something Bytedance has denied.
Microsoft had emerged as the frontrunner for the deal after it publicly confirmed takeover discussions with Bytedance earlier this month.
But Oracle has now approached existing Bytedance investors including Sequoia Capital and General Atlantic as it prepares a rival bid, the Financial Times reported.