Microsoft said Sunday it was continuing talks with Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok to purchase its US operations, following a meeting with President Donald Trump.
“Following a conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President Donald J Trump, Microsoft is prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States,” the company said in a statement.
Trump has threatened to bar the wildly popular app in the United States, citing national security concerns, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier Sunday that the president was set to announce strong action against TikTok.
“President Trump has said, ‘Enough,’ and we’re going to fix it,” Pompeo told Fox News.
“And so he will take action in the coming days with respect to a broad array of national security risks that are presented by software connected to the Chinese Communist Party,” he added.
Earlier media reports had suggested Trump would require that the app’s US operations be divested from its Chinese owner ByteDance.
But The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that Microsoft’s plans to buy TikTok’s US operations were on hold after Trump’s threat to bar the app.
