Microsoft Plans To Purchase TikTok In US By September 15 After Personal Talk With Donald Trump

Microsoft said on Sunday that it is continuing talks with the Chinese-owned TikTok video-sharing app to buy its US operations, following a meeting with President Donald Trump.

The company said in a statement - "After a conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President Donald J Trump, Microsoft is prepared to start discussions on the purchase of TikTok in the United States."

The Microsoft blog reads, "Microsoft completely appreciates the importance of resolving the concerns of the President. It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a thorough security analysis and providing appropriate economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury. Microsoft will push rapidly to begin negotiations with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, in a matter of weeks and, in any case, to end such negotiations no later than 15 September 2020. During this process, Microsoft is looking forward to continuing the dialogue with the Government of the United States, including the President."

It is said that, "Both the firms have informed their purpose to explore a preliminary proposal that would include the purchase of TikTok in the United States , Canada , Australia and New Zealand and it would result in the ownership of TikTok by Microsoft in those markets. Microsoft could invite other US investors to participate in this purchase on a minority basis."

Earlier, Trump vowed to ban the highly successful app in the US, citing national security concerns, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier on Sunday that the President was expected to take tough action against TikTok.

Pompeo said that "These Chinese tech companies working in the United States, whether it's TikTok or WeChat, there are hundreds more and they are feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist Party."

He further added that, "It may be the details about the user's home, their phone numbers, their friends with whom they are associated with and could be their facial recognition patterns. Those are the things that President Trump made clear that we're going to take care of."