Oracle is a good company and could take over popular social media app TikTok in the United States, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday after he issued an order mandating its sale in 90 days.
The remarks came after Oracle joined some of the investors of TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, in pursuing a bid for TikTok’s operations in North America, Australia, and New Zealand, Reuters reported.
Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison is one of the few people in Silicon Valley to publicly support Trump. In February, the 76-year-old billionaire hosted a fundraiser for Trump's re-election campaign.
Earlier, the Financial Times had quoted a person with knowledge of the matter as saying that Oracle had been in preliminary talks with ByteDance and was seriously considering acquiring TikTok's businesses in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The person added that Oracle is working with a group of US investors, including Transatlantic Investment Group and Sequoia Capital, which own stakes in ByteDance.
Microsoft reportedly considering acquiring TikTok's UK business
In addition, Business Insider reported that TikTok's response to the US blockade has been somewhat unique: it continues to hire hundreds of employees in the United States.
Business Insider's analysis found that the number of jobs hired in TikTok's New York, Los Angeles, and Mountain View offices grew 3.5% to 357 in the past week.
The number of jobs hired in TikTok's US offices also increased slightly as a percentage of the overall company, from 27.4 percent to 28 percent.
Twitter, TikTok held talks about potential combination, WSJ reports
TikTok's increased US hiring comes against the backdrop that Trump has signed two executive orders forcing it to sell its US business to US companies or face a full shutdown. Microsoft and Oracle are considered the most likely to acquire TikTok.
"TikTok seems to still be hiring at an impressive clip," said Brendan Gahan, a partner and chief social officer at Mekanism, a US creative agency. "I imagine they must be incredibly confident that they're not going anywhere. Trump pushing back the ban deadline probably reinforces this perception."
