Page 11 - Aruba-today-15 Sept 2020

A11
BUSINESS Tuesday 15 sepTember 2020

TikTok owner picks Oracle over Microsoft as U.S. tech partner

By MATT O'BRIEN and TALI The deal had come to-
ARBEL gether rapidly after the ad-
AP Technology Writers ministration ramped up its
Oracle said Monday that threats against TikTok this
the Chinese owner of TikTok summer, despite TikTok's
has picked the U.S. com- efforts to put distance be-
pany to be its "trusted tech- tween its app and its Chi-
nology provider," beating nese ownership. It installed
out rival Microsoft in a deal former Disney executive
that could help keep the Kevin Mayer as its Ameri-
popular video-sharing app can CEO, but he resigned
running in the U.S. in August after just a few
Oracle spokeswoman Deb- months on the job, saying
orah Hellinger said she was the "political environment
confirming remarks made has sharply changed."
by U.S. Treasury Secretary Both Microsoft and Oracle
Steven Mnuchin, who told are known more for their
CNBC on Monday that business software offerings
TikTok's parent company, than for those intended for
ByteDance, submitted its consumers.
proposal to the U.S. govern- Oracle primarily makes da-
ment for approval. tabase software. It com-
"We did get a proposal over In this July 21, 2020 file photo, a man opens social media app 'TikTok' on his cell phone, in Islam- petes with tech giants such
the weekend that includes abad, Pakistan. as Microsoft and Amazon
Oracle as the trusted tech- Associated Press that provide cloud services
nology partner with Oracle as well as business-software
making many representa- said he expects the group planned to partner with Mi- TikTok has sued to stop the specialists like Salesforce.
tions for national security is- to review the proposal this crosoft on the acquisition, ban, but not the sale order. Some analysts see Oracle's
sues," Mnuchin said. week and later make a said Sunday it "continues to The negotiations have been interest in a consumer busi-
Mnuchin said there's also a recommendation to the have an interest in a TikTok complicated by several ness as misguided. Oracle
commitment to make Tik- president. investment" and is talking factors, including Trump's should focus on enterprise-
Tok's global operations a The president can approve about it with ByteDance repeated demands that market acquisitions and
U.S.-headquartered com- or deny a transaction rec- and other parties. the U.S. government should not invest in a consumer
pany with 20,000 new jobs. ommended by the panel, TikTok, which says it has get a "cut" of any deal, a app like TikTok that doesn't
TikTok said in a statement though Trump has already 100 million U.S. users and stipulation and role for the fit with the rest of its busi-
Monday that its proposal voiced support for Oracle about 700 million globally, president that experts say is ness, said Jefferies analyst
to the Treasury Department as a "great company" that is known for its fun, goofy unprecedented. Brent Thill, who compares
should "resolve the Adminis- could handle the acquisi- videos of dancing, lip-sync- In addition, the Chinese the idea to Delta Airlines
tration's security concerns" tion. ing, pranks and jokes. It's government in late August buying a motorcycle com-
and emphasized the im- If the arrangement is ap- recently become home to unveiled new regulations pany. "It doesn't make any
portance of its app to the proved by the U.S. govern- more political content such that restrict exports of tech- sense," he said.
100 million users it claims in ment, TikTok would be al- as the comedian Sarah nology, likely including the Thill suggested that TikTok
the U.S. lowed to continue operat- Cooper, who drew a large artificial intelligence system competitors like Facebook
President Donald Trump's ing. audience by lip-syncing TikTok uses to choose which and Snapchat should be
administration has threat- Microsoft said in a Sunday Trump's often-disjointed videos to spool up to its us- "cheering on Oracle" as
ened to ban TikTok by Sept. statement that ByteDance statements from public ap- ers. That means ByteDance a buyer, because Oracle
20 and ordered owner "let us know today they pearances. would have to obtain a li- wouldn't "add a lot of value
ByteDance to sell its U.S. would not be selling TikTok's But the app has also raised cense from China to export to the app."
business, claiming national US operations to Microsoft." concerns because of its such technology to a for- Oracle co-founder Larry El-
security risks due to its Chi- Proposals to acquire TikTok's Chinese ownership. The eign company. lison is unusual among tech
nese ownership. The gov- U.S. business raised ques- White House has cracked "The Chinese government executives for his public
ernment worries about user tions among outside ob- down on a range of Chi- has implied it may block support of Trump, hosting a
data being funneled to servers about how it would nese businesses, including export of TikTok's AI systems, fundraiser for him in Febru-
Chinese authorities. TikTok be split from the rest of Tik- telecom equipment makers so that might complicate ary at his Rancho Mirage,
denies it is a national secu- Tok's social media platform, Huawei and ZTE and mes- a direct sale," said Tiffany California, estate. The com-
rity risk and is suing to stop which is popular world- saging app WeChat, over Li, a visiting professor at the pany also hired a former
the administration from en- wide. ByteDance also owns worries that they would en- Boston University School of top aide to Vice President
acting the threatened ban. a similar video app, Douyin, able Chinese authorities to Law. Mike Pence; its CEO, Saf-
Much remains unclear for the Chinese market. access U.S. user data. Re- She said that TikTok's AI- ra Catz, also served on
about the proposed deal Microsoft added it was publican and Democratic backed video recommen- Trump's transition team.
with Oracle, which is point- "confident our proposal lawmakers have raised dation system is one of the The president said on Aug.
edly not referring to it as a would have been good concerns about censorship app's competitive advan- 18 that Oracle was "a great
sale or acquisition. for TikTok's users, while pro- and children's privacy. tages. company" that "could
Any deal must still be re- tecting national security in- TikTok denies that it has Whether the Oracle-TikTok handle" buying TikTok. He
viewed by the Committee terests." The company said shared user data with the deal will allow the side- declined to state his prefer-
on Foreign Investment in it "would have made sig- Chinese government or stepping of Chinese export ence between Oracle and
the United States, known nificant changes to ensure that it would do so if asked. restrictions depends on Microsoft as buyers.
as CFIUS, a U.S. govern- the service met the high- The company says it has which entity retains con- "We have a lot of confi-
ment group chaired by est standards for security, not censored videos at the trol of TikTok in the U.S., said dence in both Microsoft
the Treasury Secretary that privacy, online safety, and request of Chinese authori- Paul Haswell, a Hong Kong- and Oracle," Mnuchin said
studies mergers for national combating disinformation." ties and insists it is not a na- based partner at law firm Monday. "They've chosen
security reasons. Mnuchin Walmart, which had tional-security threat. Pinsent Masons. Oracle."q