- Oracle is in preliminary talks with TikTok parent ByteDance to buy the app’s operations in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, the Financial Times reported Monday.
- Oracle has been working with US investors, including General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, who own a stake in TikTok already, according to the Financial Times.
- Founder Larry Ellison is among Trump’s few public backers in Silicon Valley and CEO Safra Catz served on his presidential transition team.
- Trump has tried to force a sale of the app to an American company through multiple executive orders, and so far Microsoft has been the leading contender.
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Enterprise software giant Oracle has entered the race to acquire some of TikTok’s operations from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, the Financial Times reported Monday.
Oracle has been involved in preliminary discussions with several current US-based TikTok investors, including General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, to purchase the app’s US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand operations, according to the report.
Oracle and TikTok both declined to comment and ByteDance could not immediately be reached.
President Donald Trump has sought to force the sale of TikTok to an American company, citing national security concerns. Trump has claimed that the Chinese government could pressure ByteDance to use the app to spy on Americans or censor political content it finds offensive.
Trump has issued two executive orders in recent weeks, one that could ban US companies from doing business with TikTok and another that seeks to unwind ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of Musical.ly, the precursor to TikTok.
Microsoft has been the leading contender in acquisition talks so far, having held discussions to buy TikTok’s operations in those same countries, but interest from Oracle would give TikTok an alternative and potentially some leverage in negotiating a deal.
TikTok, which has more than 2.3 billion downloads worldwide, has recently been valued between $30 billion and $50 billion.
Oracle’s executives also have close ties to Trump. Founder Larry Ellison is one of the few tech executives who have openly backed Trump, and hosted a fundraiser for the president at his home in Southern California in February. CEO Safra Catz also served on Trump’s transition team.