ByteDance, the parent company of the social media app, TikTok, has seemingly rejected Microsoft’s offer to purchase its US operations. The issue was confirmed through a brief statement from Microsoft, stating that it had made some changes to its service in anticipation of the potential partnership.
On another note, it seems ByteDance may be partnering up with another US company, Oracle, although the exact nature of the new partnership is still shrouded in mystery. At the time of writing, Oracle itself has yet to release an official statement regarding the partnership.
Getting back to Microsoft, the company didn’t specify what sort of changes it had supposedly proposed for TikTok, but it is being speculated that one of the reasons why ByteDance pulled out of the deal is that it is reluctant to sell its prize algorithm to a US company. Selling it would mean giving said buyer access to the algorithm’s underlying code and the rights to rewrite it to best suit their needs and system.
Both Microsoft’s and ByteDance’s announcement is cutting it very close to the 15 September deadline set by US President Donald Trump. To recap, the man said that TikTok had until the date to sell off its US arm of operations, failing which will result in the closure of the company within the country.
Unsurprisingly, the President has also expressed that he would like the US government to get a cut of whatever deal is made between ByteDance and the US company it decides to sell TikTok to.
