TikTok ban 2025: Is Microsoft really buying it?

TikTok ban 2025 has been one of the hottest things to talk about in the tech industry in recent months, especially for its position with 170 million users in the US.

President Donald Trump has previously revealed that Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok, and he expressed interest in seeing a bidding war for the app. Microsoft declined to comment, and TikTok did not respond.

This marks the second time Microsoft has been involved in talks to buy TikTok, following a failed bid in 2020, while Trump has also previously mentioned Elon Musk as a potential buyer.

Despite this, talks ended at the time, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella later described the potential deal as “the strangest thing” he had ever worked on.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has been granted a 75-day extension to decide whether to sell its US operations or face a ban. Trump previously also mentioned that multiple potential buyers, including investors like Frank McCourt and Kevin O’Leary, were in talks, and he would approve a deal with Microsoft.

Since then, a lot of US companies want to have a piece of it. It’s a big user base, and TikTok’s immense popularity makes it a highly attractive asset for tech giants looking to expand their reach.

Perplexity AI has also joined the conversation and revised its merger proposal with ByteDance, to create a US-based holding company, NewCo. It would then combine Perplexity and TikTok’s U.S. operations.

The deal, however, excludes TikTok’s core algorithm and would allow the U.S. government to acquire up to a 50% stake in the new entity, though without voting power or a board seat.