Oracle emerges as a surprise suitor for TikTok

A new potential buyer has emerged for the Chinese-owned video app TikTok as it negotiates a deal to avoid being banned in the US.

According to a report in The Financial Times, the surprising new suitor is Oracle, the Silicon Valley giant better known for business software than for social networking.

Reports indicate that Oracle has held preliminary talks with ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. Its aim is to buy TikTok’s operations in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This was the very same deal that Microsoft had publicly said it was negotiating.

Oracle has very limited experience with consumer-facing businesses but it has a major advantage in having close ties to the White House. Its co-founder and chief executive are some of the few prominent Trump supporters in Silicon Valley. Other potential suitors include Twitter.