FT: Oracle joins Microsoft as a possible bidder for TikTok
Twitter has also been linked as interested in the company.
For a couple of weeks, Microsoft had been the only name publicly attached as a potential buyer for TikTok, and it has about a month left before the announced September 15th deadline to make a deal. Since then, Twitter was reported as a company in “preliminary talks” to acquire the video sharing app, and tonight Financial Times reports that Oracle has entered the race, providing TikTok owner ByteDance with a “credible” alternative to Microsoft.
According to the report, Oracle is working with investors that already have a stake in ByteDance, like General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, and is willing to purchase the app’s operations just in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Twitter’s potential as a bidder may have financial limitations and Microsoft is rumored to be interested in buying the service in countries where ByteDance might not want to sell, like India. Meanwhile, Bloomberg points out that Oracle is worth about $166 billion, and recently had $43 billion in “cash or near equivalents” which it could easily use to make a deal.
It’s hard to understand how a video app used by teens fits in with Oracle’s B2B nature, but founder Larry Ellison is an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, who has used a series of threats and orders to push for a sale.
