Oracle Competing With Microsoft In Possible TikTok Deal: Reports

Oracle, which is run by Larry Ellison, who is a friend of U.S. President Donald Trump, is working with other investors including companies that invested in TikTok parent company ByteDance on a potential acquisition of the social media application.

Oracle has reportedly entered talks to acquire TikTok‘s U.S. operations.

That would make Oracle the latest in a string of potential suitors for TikTok, the social media application owned by China-based ByteDance after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed concern about potential security issues related to Chinese ownership of the popular app.

Microsoft has confirmed that it is interested in acquiring TikTok. In addition, Twitter held early-stage talks with TikTok about an acquisition as well, but ran into concerns about its ability to finance such a deal, according to the Los Angeles Times.

[Related: Conflicting Reports Emerge About Scope Of Microsoft’s TikTok Bid]

The acquisition price for TikTok could run as high as $30 billion, according to multiple news reports.

Trump earlier this month signed an executive order banning any transactions between ByteDance and U.S. citizens. He has also issued an order mandating that TikTok be sold within 90 days.

Reuters on Tuesday reported that Trump called Oracle a good company and that it could take over TikTok.

According to the Financial Times, which broke the news, Oracle is working with investment firms General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital on a potential bid for TikTok. Both of those companies own a stake in ByteDance. CNBC on Tuesday also said it had talked to people with knowledge of the discussions.

An Oracle spokesperson, in response to a CRN request for more information, declined to comment on the reports.

Neither TikTok or Twitter replied to CRN requests for further information.

An Oracle bid for TikTok would be unusual given that Oracle, unlike Microsoft, has no consumer-facing business. However, Larry Ellison, Oracle‘s founder, executive chairman, and chief technology officer, is a friend of Trump’s, and in February held a fundraiser for the President in Southern California.

Microsoft early this month confirmed in a blog post that the company is interested in continuing discussions about purchasing the TikTok service in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand after talks between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President Donald J. Trump.

However, it is unclear whether Microsoft is looking to acquire the TikTok service in the U.S. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand markets, or, and Bloomberg and other sites suggested, the entire TikTok business. Acquiring the entire worldwide operations of TikTok would be easier than trying to split the company‘s back-office operations.