TikTok chooses Oracle over Microsoft in Trump-forced sale

13 Sep 2020, 19:18 by The Associated Press

https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/c1/cf/606dd6b145cbad34911f7997565a/ap-20220143274370.jpg — Icons for the smartphone apps TikTok and WeChat are seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. President Donald Trump has ordered a sweeping but unspecified ban on dealings with the Chinese owners of the consumer apps TikTok and WeChat, although it remains unclear if he has the legal authority to actually ban the apps from the U.S. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)Mark Schiefelbein/AP

TikTok's owner has chosen Oracle over Microsoft as its preferred suitor to buy the popular video-sharing app, according to a source familiar with the deal.

The choice came a week before President Donald Trump’s deadline to ban it in the U.S.

Microsoft said in a Sunday statement that TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, “let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft.”

The Trump administration has threatened to ban TikTok by mid-September and ordered ByteDance to sell its U.S. business, claiming national-security risks due to its Chinese ownership.