Microsoft weighs buying TikTok’s UK services

Microsoft Corp is interested in buying the popular music video app TikTok’s UK operations, expanding beyond the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Microsoft has set September 15 as the deadline for its TikTok deal. (REUTERS)

Microsoft Corp is interested in buying the popular music video app TikTok's UK operations, expanding beyond the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand units that are already under discussion, Fox Business Network reported, citing a banker it didn't identify.

It's unclear whether TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd wants to sell the UK unit and if a formal offer for UK unit will be made, the banker with knowledge of the deal told the network.

The UK government said in early August that it has no plans to block the ByteDance platform in the country. TikTok is sitting on a plan to move its headquarters from the US to London as it waits for a public statement of support from the British government, the South China Morning Post reported last week, citing sources familiar with the situation.

President Donald Trump on Friday formally ordered the Chinese owner of TikTok to sell its US assets. Microsoft has been in talks with ByteDance to buy TikTok's operations in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand with a September 15 deadline for a deal.

TikTok didn't offer a comment on the report, Fox Business News said.