Microsoft ‘Would Have Been Good’ for TikTok, It Says of Offer’s Rejection

Oracle was silent Monday about its status as the likely buyer of TikTok’s U.S. business after Microsoft disclosed that TikTok parent ByteDance rejected its offer. Oracle CEO Safra Catz put TikTok questions off limits at the very top of her fiscal Q1 call last week. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed on CNBC Monday that the Trump administration got "a proposal over the weekend" for making Oracle TikTok's "trusted technology partner, with Oracle making many representations for national security issues." The proposal includes the "commitment to create TikTok Global as a U.S.-headquartered company with 20,000 new jobs," he said. It will be reviewed this week at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. before a "recommendation" is made to President Donald Trump, he said. Microsoft was confident its proposal “would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests,” said the company Sunday. “We would have made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combating disinformation.” Trump’s Aug. 6 executive order bans transactions with ByteDance and WeChat parent Tencent after Sept. 20 if their U.S. operations aren’t sold to American partners (see 2008070032). ByteDance and TikTok sued Aug. 24 to block the EO (see 2008240047).