Microsoft CEO says failed TikTok deal 'strangest thing I've worked on'

Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, gestures as he attends Microsoft's 'Young Innovators' Summit' in New Delhi, India February 26, 2020. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/Files

(Reuters) -Microsoft Corp's near-acquisition of social media app TikTok last year was the "strangest thing I've ever worked on," Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said on Monday.

TikTok had been ordered by then-U.S. President Donald Trump to separate its U.S. version from Chinese parent ByteDance because of national security concerns about the collection of U.S. users' data. Microsoft in August 2020 began talks on the proposed acquisition but the deal collapsed by September.