The stock of Oracle grew on Monday after news that ByteDance, headquartered in China, wanted to be the U.S. technology partner of TikTok.
A friend of TNN said on Sunday that ByteDance has selected Oracle as the U.S. partner of the influential viral video app. The person said Oracle would also take an important part in the company. It was earlier reported on Sunday by Microsoft that ByteDance did not want to sell the US properties of TikTok.
In early Monday, the stock of Oracle jumped around 5%. Oracle shares were stopped shortly after the pending news was released.
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ByteDance was granted a 20 September deadline by the White House to declare a TikTok selling agreement in the United States, or to be barred by 29 September; by 12 November, an offer was to be made.
“ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft,” Microsoft hinted in a blog post. “We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests. To do this, we would have made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combating disinformation, and we made these principles clear in our August statement. We look forward to seeing how the service evolves in these important areas.”
TikTok refused to comment on the issue. Representatives of Oracle did not respond directly to comments requests.
ALSO READ: TikTok Deletes 380,000 Videos To Breach Hate Speech Policies
On Thursday, Oracle CEO Safra Catz launched a quarterly profit call from Oracle with investors, after news of Oracle ‘s involvement in TikTok. “Before I start, I want to make sure you understand that we will be making no comments regarding the press reports about TikTok. So there’s no need to ask.” He said. The Financial Times announced that Oracle was involved in making an arrangement with General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital that have both representation on the ByteDance board.
Like Microsoft, Oracle provides cloud computing, on which TikTok can rely in the USA. According to the technology consulting firm Gartner, Oracle was not among the top five cloud computing vendors by 2019, although Microsoft was number 2.
“Oracle occupies a unique position in the cloud market,” Larry Ellison, Oracle’s co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer, said Thursday.
Oracle has major connections to the presidency of Trump. Catz was a new member of Trump’s team and Ellison organized Trump’s election campaign fund raising activity earlier this year at one of his homes in California. It has also been linked to the Democrats. Leon Panetta, former Central Intelligence Agency Head and President Barack Obama ‘s security secretary, sits on Oracle ‘s board.
Walmart, who collaborated with Microsoft for an investment in TikTok, said it also aims to build connections to the website.
“Walmart continues to have an interest in a TikTok investment and continues discussions with ByteDance leadership and other interested parties. We know that any approved deal must satisfy all regulatory and national security concerns,” the retailer said in a statement.
