ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, is racing to save the video-sharing app’s US operations by making a last-ditch plea to the Trump administration to allow it to sell the unit to Microsoft.
ByteDance has told the White House it is willing to divest its US operation in full through a sale, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter, after US president Donald Trump vowed to ban the app in the US.
A US national security review has deemed TikTok a risk to Americans’ personal data, and Mr Trump said a sale to any party — including Microsoft — would not be an acceptable solution. “We are not an M&A [mergers and acquisitions] country,” the president said.