MICROSOFT GETS CLOSER TO TIKTOK ACQUISITION

On their official blog, Microsoft announced late Sunday that it would continue its pursuit to acquire TikTok from its Chinese parent company ByteDance.

The clarification arrived following a weekend of unrest for TikTok, which was targeted by President Trump with reports of a forced departure from ByteDance on Friday, only to be escalated by the President telling reporters he would ban the app in the U.S. as early as Saturday.

In Microsoft's statement, they announced that not only had CEO Satya Nadella spoken with President Trump to continue to "explore" an acquisition of TikTok in the U.S., but that Microsoft and ByteDance would also finalize any deal before 9/15, a deadline reportedly set by the President. Microsoft added, "During this process, Microsoft looks forward to continuing dialogue with the United States Government, including with the President."

Microsoft and ByteDance will work with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to get approval for Microsoft to acquire the TikTok service in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Along with thanking the U.S. government throughout their statement, Microsoft also divulged that other American investors may be invited to participate on a minority basis in the purchase.

They also assured the public American users' data would remain in the U.S. Microsoft would bring to the table "world-class security, privacy, and digital safety protections. The operating model for the service would be built to ensure transparency to users as well as appropriate security oversight by governments in these countries."

Read Microsoft's statement here.