Microsoft and Oracle Reportedly Renew Talks to Acquire TikTok

What year is it? Looks like it’s 2025. And guess what? Microsoft is once again eyeing a potential acquisition of TikTok. Sounds familiar, right?

For a bit of context, last year, the U.S. Congress passed a law pushing TikTok to either sell its American operations or shut down altogether, due to its Chinese ownership. President Biden didn’t block this legislation, so it became law. TikTok dug its heels in and refused to comply, which resulted in the app going offline briefly last Sunday. However, it bounced back in no time, with a pop-up message thanking the newly inaugurated President Trump for granting them a temporary reprieve.

President Trump has given TikTok a 90-day breathing space, but the app still hasn’t made its way back to Google Play or Apple’s App Store due to legislative restrictions. This means TikTok is still on the clock, needing to find a buyer or face a shutdown in the U.S. within the next few months.

On that note, NPR is citing reports from The Verge that Microsoft is again in talks to acquire TikTok.

The platform faces worldwide criticism for its addictive nature and its knack for creating echo chambers that can fuel radical ideas. The U.S. considers it a national security threat due to its ties with Chinese parent company ByteDance, which allegedly has connections with the Chinese Communist Party. There’s a concern TikTok might be used for spreading propaganda or tracking American users. Over in Europe, TikTok’s also under fire for supposedly contributing to the rise of extremist political factions and pro-Putin messaging.

According to some reports, the White House might be brokering a deal where Oracle would acquire TikTok’s global operations, with ByteDance retaining a minority share. Microsoft’s name is in the mix too, although details on their level of involvement remain scarce. All parties involved so far have kept mum on the matter.

Now, when we think about social networks, Meta has Facebook and Instagram, Google owns YouTube, Amazon controls Twitch, and Microsoft, well, they’re the proud owners of LinkedIn.

Although LinkedIn is quite successful, it’s seen as more of a professional tool than a cultural influencer. If Microsoft could get its hands on TikTok, it could greatly enhance its consumer offerings like Windows, Surface, and Xbox. Imagine TikTok-style video tools seamlessly integrated with Xbox, or even built into Windows. Of course, similar dreams were thrown around when Microsoft bought Skype, and we know how that turned out.

The chances of Microsoft actually taking over TikTok might be slim, though. TikTok heavily depends on Microsoft’s Azure AI for many of its features, but most of its main infrastructure is hosted on Oracle’s cloud. Microsoft’s involvement likely doesn’t extend beyond their existing Azure contract.

But who knows? What if it did?