As national security concerns over TikTok’s Chinese ownership continue to increase, American multinational technology behemoth Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy the app.
President Donald Trump had on Tuesday confirmed the tech company’s interest in the deal.
Trump expressed interest in the outcome of the sale by telling reporters he wanted to see competition in the app’s bidding process, according to Reuters.
TikTok and its parent company ByteDance did not reply to questions outside of usual business hours, while Microsoft declined to comment on the matter.
TikTok is under pressure from the U.S. government to sell its operations in the country or risk ban.
Microsoft tried to purchase TikTok; in 2020.
The company was a front-runner to purchase the company’s U.S. business, but those talks fell through after Trump departed office.
