Microsoft CEO talked to President Trump about the acquisition of TikTok

In a blog post on Sunday, Microsoft said CEO Satya Nadella and President Trump had a talk about the acquisition of TikTok’s business unit in the United States. This is the first time Microsoft has confirmed reports that it is negotiating to acquire the social networking platform.

The blog post further emphasized that the company will ” quickly pursue negotiations with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, over the next few weeks, and under any circumstances, discussions will be completed.” all no later than September 15, 2020. ”

The blog post added that ” both companies will announce their intent to seek a preliminary offer regarding the acquisition of the TikTok service in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to lead. As a result, Microsoft will own and operate TikTok in these markets . ”

It is not clear how Microsoft will separate those markets from the regions TikTok operates, including Europe and Africa. Microsoft has not pledged to take the entire deal on its side, but may also ” invite other US investors to take part in the deal .”

Although the post says the discussions are only for a “preliminary” proposal, it will address privacy concerns, saying Microsoft will ” ensure all private data of US users on TikTok will be transferred and stay on US soil . ”

” Even with such data currently being stored or backed up outside the United States, Microsoft will ensure that this data will be deleted from servers outside the country after it is delivered .”

Earlier on Friday, President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok’s door in the United States. This possibility was mentioned by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on 7 July when he said it was “what we were looking for.” After Trump’s statement, ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, offered to withdraw all capital at TikTok USA and transfer user data to its US counterpart.

Refer to The Verge