TikTok could announce a deal in the coming days for the sale of its U.S. operations , CNBC reported on Thursday citing people familiar with the matter.
Kevin Mayer, who announced his resignation as TikTok’s CEO, was originally going to announce his decision to step down along with the sale agreement next week, but he pushed up the timing to after news of the announcement leaked to the Financial Times, said one of the people.
TikTok hasn’t decided on a buyer and is still discussing bids from Oracle and Microsoft and a third US company, the report said. Walmart has been working with SoftBank on a potential acquisition, but that offer doesn’t include a cloud technology backbone component, which is likely a non-starter with the US government, two of the people said.
Following reports of TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer's resignation, its parent company ByteDance has confirmed the information and said that it respects his decision and thanks him for his work with TikTok.
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer resigns after three months on the job
Mayer joined ByteDance on June 1 this year as ByteDance COO and global CEO of TikTok, responsible for TikTok, Helo, music, games and other businesses of ButeDance, as well as some of ByteDance's global functions (excluding China).
Microsoft was interested in buying TikTok's UK business in addition to the US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand operations already under discussion, according to a Bloomberg report earlier this month.
It's unclear whether TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance wants to sell its UK subsidiary, and whether a formal offer will be made for the business, the report said, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Microsoft reportedly considering acquiring TikTok's UK business
