With deadline set, Microsoft, ByteDance still have to talk price

Talks with ByteDance began in July and involved Nadella, Hood and Smith, sources said. Microsoft and ByteDance haven’t agreed on a price, terms, how Microsoft would pay for the unit, or how any technology sharing or transfer of assets of the video-sharing app would work, these people said. — AFP

Microsoft Corp and ByteDance Ltd, with about six weeks to work out a final deal for the software giant to buy TikTok’s operations in the US, have yet to agree on most terms, including what could be contentious negotiations over price.

A Sept 15 deadline was put in place at the insistence of the White House, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the talks between the companies and the Trump administration are private. Microsoft and ByteDance haven’t agreed on a price, terms, how Microsoft would pay for the unit, or how any technology sharing or transfer of assets of the video-sharing app would work, these people said.