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- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told CNET the deal struck between TikTok, Oracle, and Walmart looked nothing like the deal Microsoft originally bid on for TikTok’s US operations.
- “The deal has obviously changed a lot since then,” Nadella said.
- Oracle and Walmart announced their intentions to buy a 20% stake in TikTok on Saturday, but the deal is yet to win official government approval.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The deal TikTok has managed to strike with Oracle and Walmart is a far cry from what it originally offered Microsoft, according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
In an interview with CNET published on Monday, Nadella commented on the deal announced between TikTok, Oracle, and Walmart last week: “It’s not something I recognize, and it’s definitely not the deal I bid on.”
Microsoft was originally in the running to acquire TikTok’s US operations, and was even tipped as the frontrunner. “The deal has obviously changed a lot since then,” Nadella told CNET.
Microsoft announced on September 13 that its bid for TikTok’s US operations had been rejected.
On Saturday Oracle and Walmart announced their intention to buy 20% of a newly created entity called TikTok Global from TikTok’s parent company ByteDance.
The deal has created great public confusion and continues to be at the center of US-China political tensions.
The Oracle-TikTok deal comes after the Trump administration ordered that the popular, Chinese-owned app hive off its US operation or face a nationwide ban.
The Trump administration maintains TikTok as it stands poses a national security threat because it is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance, and has accused it of spying on US citizens for China. TikTok denies spying for any government, and filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s order on the grounds it was denied due process.
Questions of ownership are still plaguing the deal, which has yet to be officially approved by the both the US and China.
President Trump said on Saturday that he had given the deal the go-ahead “in concept,” but also said that China would not have any involvement. ByteDance put out a statement Monday countering that it would maintain 80% control of TikTok Global, and Trump appeared to threaten that the deal may not receive approval.
“If we find that [Oracle] don’t have total control then we’re not going to approve the deal,” Trump told Fox News.
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