Trump says Oracle, a good company, could take over TikTok in the US

The remarks came after Oracle joined some of the investors of TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, in pursuing a bid for the short-video app's operations in North America, Australia and New Zealand.

US President Donald Trump last week ordered ByteDance to divest the US operations of the video app within 90 days, ramping up pressure on the Chinese company over concerns about the safety of the personal data it handles. (REUTERS)

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Oracle Corp is a good company and could take over popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok in the United States, after he issued an order mandating its sale in 90 days.

The remarks came after Oracle joined some of the investors of TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, in pursuing a bid for the short-video app's operations in North America, Australia and New Zealand, Reuters reported.

Oracle Corp has held preliminary talks with TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, and was seriously considering buying the app's operations in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Monday.

Oracle was working with some U.S. investors that already have a stake in ByteDance, including General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, the newspaper reported, citing people briefed about the matter.

ByteDance and TikTok did not have a comment on the FT report, while Oracle declined to comment.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Twitter Inc had approached ByteDance to express interest in acquiring the U.S. operations of TikTok, while Microsoft Corp was still the favorite to clinch a deal.

The Financial Times said on Monday Microsoft has also seriously considered a bid to take over TikTok's global operations beyond the nations it outlined earlier in August.

Microsoft is particularly interested in buying TikTok in Europe and India, where it was recently banned by the Indian government after border tensions with China, the newspaper said.

But ByteDance is opposed to the idea of selling any assets beyond those in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, according to the report.

US President Donald Trump last week ordered ByteDance to divest the US operations of the video app within 90 days, ramping up pressure on the Chinese company over concerns about the safety of the personal data it handles.

General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital were not immediately available for comment.