President Donald Trump on Monday said he would welcome a “bidding war” for TikTok as he appeared to confirm that Microsoft is among the companies that have declared interest in acquiring the popular social media platform.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One he has an affinity for bidding wars.
“I like bidding wars because you make the best deal,” he said, according to The Washington Post. “So if we have a bidding war, that’s a good thing.”
Asked if Microsoft had taken part in talks about buying TikTok, Trump replied: “I would say yes.”
“A lot of interest in TikTok,” he added.
Microsoft has not commented on Trump’s latest remarks.
The U.S. tech giant made a bid to acquire the platform in 2020 after Trump first floated the idea of a forced divestiture citing national security concerns. In the end, TikTok decided to partner with Oracle after the two reached an agreement on the storage of U.S. user data.
Speaking to tech journalist Kara Swisher at the Code Conference in 2021, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella described the negotiations as “the strangest thing I’ve ever sort of worked on.”
Meanwhile, the president on Saturday denied an NPR report stating that Oracle and a group of outside investors were in talks with the White House about potentially acquiring the global operations of TikTok.
“No, not with Oracle,” he said. “Numerous people are talking to me, very substantial people, about buying it, and I’d make that decision probably over the next 30 days.”
But last week, Trump said he would be open to Oracle’s founder and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison owning the platform. He said the same about his billionaire ally Elon Musk.
Despite the apparent talks happening behind closed doors, TikTok’s future in the U.S. is uncertain.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld legislation signed into law by former President Joe Biden that required TikTok divest its Chinese ownership by Jan. 19 to avoid a nationwide ban, citing national security concerns.
In response to the ruling, TikTok decided to temporarily go offline in the U.S. before restoring service to its U.S. users after Trump committed to signing an executive order giving the company more time to comply with the legislation. Even though Trump followed through on his word, TikTok remains unavailable to download on U.S. app stores.
Billionaire Frank McCourt and Perplexity AI have also made formal bids to acquire TikTok.
In separate remarks made to House Republicans attending a GOP policy retreat in Doral, Florida, on Monday, Trump once again suggested that TikTok helped him win November’s election.
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“I have a little bias toward TikTok right now,” he said.