Microsoft confirmed yesterday that it's in talks to acquire TikTok in the US and that it's aiming to finish those discussions by September 15. Now that date is taking on an even bigger significance.
President Trump today said that if TikTok's US operations are not sold by September 15, it'll have to close down (via Bloomberg). Trump also said that the US Treasury will need to be paid "a very substantial portion" of TikTok's sale price because the government is "making it possible for this deal to happen."
Trump previously threatened to shut down TikTok in the US, with reports saying that the US government is concerned that the Chinese government may be using the app to gather data on US citizens. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company.
We also know that Trump had been opposed to a US company buying TikTok's US operations, but after speaking with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the president now is okay with a deal.
Microsoft confirmed yesterday that it's "prepared to continue discussions to discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States." The preliminary details of the deal say that Microsoft would be buying TikTok's operations in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and that Microsoft would own and operate TikTok in those parts of the world.
If the deal does go through, Microsoft has pledged to move all of TikTok's data on US users to the US and then delete all of that data that's being stored outside the country.
A report from Bloomberg says that there are still many details of the Microsoft-TikTok deal that have to be worked out, including a price.
JUST IN: President Trump says TikTok must close on September 15th if Microsoft or another US else doesn’t buy it. pic.twitter.com/Iknj2in0mb
— The Hill (@thehill) August 3, 2020
