Microsoft is not back in the running to acquire TikTok, a source familiar with the situation said Friday morning, refuting a statement made by President Trump to reporters on Thursday evening.
“Well, we’re making a decision. We spoke today to Walmart, Oracle — I guess, Microsoft is still involved,” Trump said on the South Lawn of the White House before departing for a campaign rally in Wisconsin. “We’ll make a decision. But nothing much has changed. We’ll make a decision soon.”
However, Microsoft said on Sunday that TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company ByteDance had declined its bid to acquire the hit social video app’s U.S. operations. That remains the case, and President Trump’s statement Thursday that Microsoft is still involved isn’t accurate, the person told GeekWire.
[Previously: What Microsoft wanted from a TikTok deal, and why its bid for the hit social video app didn’t pan out.]
The clarification came as the U.S. Department of Commerce, acting under Trump’s prior executive orders, announced that downloads and updates of TikTok and WeChat through U.S. app stores would be prohibited as of Sunday.
“While the threats posed by WeChat and TikTok are not identical, they are similar,” the Commerce Department said in a statement. “Each collects vast swaths of data from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search histories. Each is an active participant in China’s civil-military fusion and is subject to mandatory cooperation with the intelligence services of the CCP. This combination results in the use of WeChat and TikTok creating unacceptable risks to our national security.”
Under the Commerce Department action, TikTok can continue to operate until Nov. 12 in the U.S., but without updates or new downloads through app stores.
Microsoft was reportedly offering $20 billion to $30 billion to buy TikTok. ByteDance opted for an alternative deal with Oracle in which the Chinese company would retain majority ownership of TikTok. Walmart, which had joined with Microsoft on its earlier bid, is expected to become a minority shareholder in TikTok alongside Oracle, as well. However, the deal requires the approval of the Trump administration to avoid a shutdown, and the outcome remains unclear.
