Deal breaker

2 August 2020 By Gina Chon Follow @GinaChon

President Trump had significant influence on conversations between Microsoft and TikTok after owner ByteDance’s proposed minority stake in earlier talks posed concerns. On M&A that raises national security worries, Chinese firms will find Uncle Sam is the new poison pill.

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Microsoft said on Aug. 2 it would continue talks to purchase video app TikTok in the United States after the software maker’s Chief Executive Satya Nadella spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump. Microsoft said it is in talks with TikTok owner ByteDance, based in Beijing, to acquire the service in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Microsoft, which said talks will conclude no later than Sept. 15, may invite other U.S. investors to take a minority stake.

The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States agrees that TikTok cannot stay in its current form, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told ABC News on Aug. 2. The service poses the risk of giving data on 100 million Americans to the Chinese government, he said. The options are having Trump force a sale or ban the company.

Trump said on July 31 that he planned to ban TikTok. Reuters reported on Aug. 1 that ByteDance agreed to completely divest of TikTok’s U.S. operations, instead of retaining a minority stake, to salvage a deal to sell the unit, possibly to Microsoft. The Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 2 that the negotiations with Microsoft had paused because Trump was opposed to the deal.

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