The saga began back in August when Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders that gave US businesses 45 days to stop any transactions with WeChat and ByteDance—ostensibly over security concerns—leaving the latter with little option but to sell TikTok’s US operations.
It looked as if Microsoft would win the race to buy TikTok, but the Redmond firm was knocked back in favor of a partnership with Oracle and Walmart. Trump said he approved the deal “in concept,” and the US Department of Commerce delayed the September 20 ban to September 27, 11:59 PM.
