UPDATE: Oracle has officially confirmed that TikTok-owner Bytedance is going to be a ‘trusted technology provider.’ According to the Wall Street Journal, Oracle won the bid and is expected to take over US operations of TikTok people familiar with the matter said. The deal proposal is yet to get approval from the US government. “Oracle confirms Secretary Mnuchin’s statement that it is part of the proposal submitted by ByteDance to the Treasury Department over the weekend in which Oracle will serve as the trusted technology provider,” Oracle said on Monday.
TikTok’s struggle in the US continues ever since the Trump administration issued an executive order last month. ByteDance, the owner of TikTok was given 45-days to sell the platform to an American company. Microsoft was reportedly one of the biggest candidates, however, a recent report now confirms that ByteDance will not sell TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft neither will the company give the source code to any other buyer.
According to a statement by Microsoft, “ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Microsoft. “We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests. To do this, we would have made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combatting disinformation, and we made these principles clear in our August statement. We look forward to seeing how the service evolves in these important areas.”
According to a report by CNBC, the company has chosen Oracle to be TikTok’s US technology partner. Apparently Oracle will take a significant stake in the business. Neither of the companies has officially confirmed this information, and on Thursday Oracle CEO Safra Catz began the company’s quarterly earnings call by saying, “Before I start, I want to make sure you understand that we will be making no comments regarding the press reports about TikTok. So there’s no need to ask.” According to a Financial Times report, Oracle was keen on offering a deal alongside General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, both of which have representation on ByteDance’s board.
Oracle offers a robust cloud infrastructure that could help TikTok run efficiently in the US. While it isn’t one of the top five providers of cloud infrastructure by revenue, Oracle does have important links to Trump’s administration. Notably, CEO Safra Catz was a member of Trump’s transition team.
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