Donald Trump seeks a "bidding war" for the app after years of pressure on ByteDance to sell its US operations over security concerns.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a bidding war over the app.

Per The Guardian, when a reporter aboard Air Force One on Monday asked if Microsoft was in talks to buy TikTok, Trump said, "I would say yes," adding that there is "a lot of interest in TikTok. There’s great interest in TikTok." BBC News reported that Trump said he'd like to see a "bidding war" over the sale.

President Donald Trump said Monday evening that Microsoft is among the U.S. companies looking to take control of TikTok to help the popular app avert an effective ban that could kick-in in April. “I would say yes,

President Trump said he “would say yes” to Microsoft buying TikTok but maintained that there are many interested parties that will be bidding to buy the app before a 75-day extension to decide its fate expires in April.

With the clock ticking on TikTok's existence in the US, President Donald Trump claims Microsoft is interested in acquiring the social media platform.

I would say, yes,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked if the software giant was bidding to buy TikTok from its Chinese parent company ByteDance.

Considering Microsoft ends up buying TikTok, the company might be able to use the platform to boost its existing services, such as Bing Search. Bing Search is the main competitor to Google Search, and it has been rising in popularity for the last few years due to its quest to decentralize the search engine market.

Microsoft, which declined to comment on the president’s remarks, had discussed buying TikTok in 2020, when Trump tried to force a sale of the app in his first term.

US President Donald Trump has said Microsoft is in discussions to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a "bidding war" over the sale of the social media app.