Deny Microsoft, TikTok chose Oracle

Microsoft on September 13 announced its offer to repurchase TikTok was rejected, a week before President Donald Trump’s deadline to ban Chinese video-sharing apps.

Walmart had plans to cooperate with Microsoft in this deal. It’s unclear if Walmart is still interested before Microsoft was notified of the disapproval on September 13.

Microsoft said on the same day that it was “confident that our proposal will be good for TikTok users while protecting national security interests”. The company said it “will make significant changes to ensure the service meets the highest standards of security, privacy, online safety and anti-misinformation”.

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Microsoft was denied in the acquisition of TikTok in The US. Photo: Internet.

The Trump administration has threatened to ban TikTok from September 20 and ordered ByteDance to resell its business in the US, out of fear of national security risks because the company is owned by China. The US government is worried about user data being transferred to the Chinese authorities.

TikTok denies this is a national security risk and is suing to prevent the US government from issuing the ban.

Ultimately, Oracle was chosen by ByteDance as a “technology partner” to allay US concerns.

On September 14, ByteDance announced it would not sell or transfer the algorithm behind TikTok in any deal or divestment, as well as pointing to the Chinese government’s new export controls.

In late August, Beijing enacted new restrictions or bans on technology exports, requiring companies to seek government permission – a process that could take up to 30 days. The regulations, which have not been updated since 2008, are supposed to delay the sale of TikTok to US buyers.

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TikTok has worked hard to create a gap between the app and the Chinese owner. They appointed former top Disney CEO, Kevin Mayer, as chief executive in the US. However, he resigned in August after just a few months working, saying “the political environment has changed drastically”.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is one of the few tech company leaders to openly support President Trump. The company also hired former top assistant to Vice President Mike Pence, Safra Catz – who also worked on Trump’s transfer team, as CEO.

Trump said on August 18 that Oracle was “a great company” that could “handle” the purchase of TikTok. He declined to disclose his choice between Oracle and Microsoft to acquire TikTok America.

Both Microsoft and Oracle are better known for their business software services than for consumer software. Oracle mainly works as database software. The company competes with tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon to provide cloud services, as well as with companies specializing in enterprise software like Salesforce.

TikTok, which has 100 million users in the US and about 700 million global users, is famous for its funny, humorous videos recording choreography, lip-syncing, pranks … The app is also cause for concern because of the Chinese owner, ByteDance.

The White House has cracked down on a slew of Chinese businesses, including telecom equipment makers Huawei and ZTE, as well as messaging app WeChat, out of fear that they are allowing Chinese authorities to take data of the US users. Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the US have also raised concerns about censorship and children’s privacy.

 

Sourcezingnews

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