Oracle Left as Sole Bidder after TikTok Rejects Microsoft’s Offer

Read also: Microsoft Confirms Plans to Acquire US Arm of TikTok

Ives said that even with Microsoft out of the picture, "while Oracle is technically the remaining bidder, without willing to sell its core algorithm we see no TikTok sale on the horizon."

"Oracle could be a technology partner, but a sale/divestiture of the US operations for TikTok remains the focus," he said.

TikTok meanwhile has filed a lawsuit challenging the crackdown by the US government, contending that Trump's order was a misuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act because the platform is not "an unusual and extraordinary threat".

Controversially Trump has demanded that the US government get a cut of any deal, which critics contend appears unconstitutional and akin to extortion.

Washington has accused other Chinese tech firms such as Huawei of working in the interests of the Chinese Communist Party.

Read also: Hong Kong’s Nathan Law Advises the West to Abandon Chinese Technology Ties

Bidding for TikTok comes amid a broader deterioration of relations between the world's top two economies in recent months, with the US and China locked in fierce recriminations over trade disputes, human rights, and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. 

(Writer: Daniel Hoffman) 

Source: http://u.afp.com/3EyD