According to media reports, Oracle (ORCL) is in talks to acquire TikTok's U.S., Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand operations, challenging Microsoft (MSFT), which has been in discussions to buy the assets for more than a month.
ORACLE ENTERS RACE: Oracle is working with U.S. venture capital companies to acquire TikTok's U.S., Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand operations, CNBC's Alex Sherman reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Oracle's interest challenges Microsoft, which has been in talks to acquire the same TikTok assets for more than a month.
TRUMP ORDERS TIKTOK OWNER TO SELL U.S. ASSETS: On Friday, President Donald Trump ordered the Chinese owner of TikTok to sell its U.S. assets, citing national security grounds and delivering the latest salvo in his standoff with Beijing, Bloomberg's Sara Forden, Ben Brody, Shelly Banjo, and Jenny Leonard reported. Trump's decision came after an investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or CFIUS, which reviews proposed acquisitions of American businesses by overseas investors for national security concerns, the authors noted. The unexpected order was tied to the CFIUS' timeline, according to people familiar with the decision.
Meanwhile, Fox Business Network reported that Microsoft is also interested in acquiring TikTok's U.K. operations, expanding beyond the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand units that are already under discussion. Microsoft first confirmed that it has held talks with ByteDance to acquire TikTok in the U.S. back on August 2.
On August 9, Reuters' Greg Roumeliotis and Kanishka Singh reported that Twitter (TWTR) had approached TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to express interest in acquiring the U.S. operations of the video-sharing app. It is far from certain that Twitter would be able to outbid Microsoft and complete such a transformative deal in the 45 days that President Donald Trump has given ByteDance to agree to a sale, sources familiar with the matter said.
WHAT'S NOTABLE: Commenting on President Trump's executive order forcing ByteDance to sell of divest interest in the app U.S. operations within the next 90 days, Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives argued that this gives ByteDance more breathing room versus the original September 15th date. The analyst believes intense deal negotiations between Microsoft and ByteDance have revealed a number of technology and national security issues that will take more time to work out. With the White House's green light key in the approval of an eventual sale of TikTok to Microsoft, Ives believes this extra time now makes the chances of Microsoft acquiring TikTok at the north of 80%.
PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of Oracle have gained almost 3% to $55.45.
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