Report: Microsoft in talks to buy TikTok’s US business from China’s ByteDance
President Trump has plans to order China’s ByteDance, the owner of hit social video app TikTok, to divest from the company, according to new reporting from Bloomberg . The app is increasingly a target of U.S. security concerns over its Chinese ownership. After the initial news, reports bubbled up that Microsoft is in talks to buy the Chinese social network, which has a massive footprint in the U.S. and beyond. TikTok itself is not available in China and Chinese users instead use Douyin, a similar ByteDance-owned app specific to the country. While little is known about what such a sale could mean or if the president would really play any role, the event would send huge waves through the tech world. TikTok is one of the only meaningful outside competitors for U.S.-based social networks like YouTube and Facebook. It’s also not clear if the sale would somehow spin out the company’s U.S. business or if TikTok’s broad internat...