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TikTok rejects Microsoft buyout offer, Oracle sole remaining bidder

US tech firm Oracle is the sole remaining bidder ahead of a looming deadline for the Chinese-owned video app to sell or shut down its US operations as Microsoft said that its offer to buy TikTok was rejected.

The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported that Oracle had won the bidding war, citing people familiar with the deal.


The Oracle bid would next need approval from the White House and committee on Foreign Investment in the US, a source told the Journal, with both parties under the belief it would meet US data security concerns.

TikTok has been at the centre of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing, and president Donald Trump has given Americans a deadline to stop doing business with TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance -- effectively compelling a sale of the app to a US company.

Microsoft had indicated at the beginning of August that it was interested in acquiring TikTok's US operations, but said Sunday(13) that bid had been rejected.

"ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok's US operations to Microsoft," the US tech giant said in a statement.

"We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok's users, while protecting national security interests," it added.

A deal with Microsoft could also have included Walmart, which joined forces with the tech giant in negotiations.

In early August, Trump issued an executive order stating that if a purchase agreement were not reached by September 20, the platform would have to close in the US.

Trump claims that TikTok could be used by China to track the locations of federal employees, build dossiers on people for blackmail and conduct corporate espionage.

In late August China's commerce ministry published new rules potentially making it more difficult for ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US entity by adding "civilian use" to a list of technologies that are restricted for export.

ByteDance had vowed to "strictly abide" by new export rules.

Downloaded 175 million times in the US, TikTok is used by as many as a billion people worldwide to make quirky, short-form videos on their cellphones. It has repeatedly denied sharing data with Beijing.

TikTok meanwhile has filed a lawsuit challenging the crackdown by the US government, contending that Trump's order was a misuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act because the platform is not "an unusual and extraordinary threat."

Controversially Trump has demanded that the US government get a cut of any deal, which critics contend appears unconstitutional and akin to extortion.

Washington has accused other Chinese tech firms such as Huawei of working in the interests of the Chinese Communist Party.

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Kapur was the chairman of Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd, commonly known as Sona Comstar, a global automotive components firm headquartered in Gurugram, India. He took charge of the company after the death of his father Dr Surinder Kapur in 2015 and steered it to significant success, particularly in the electric vehicle (EV) sector. The company was listed on the Indian stock exchange in 2021 and is now valued at approximately £2.95 billion, according to Bloomberg.

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The timeline of trouble:

The overturned bus (25 November 2024)

A minibus ferrying around 20 junior artists back from set rolled over near Jadkal, Karnataka. Initial reports pointed to injuries. Hombale Films quickly countered, insisting it wasn’t their official transport and no one was seriously hurt. Filming pushed ahead almost immediately. The conflicting accounts left questions hanging about crew safety during transit.

A lunch break tragedy (7–8 May 2025)

The shoot took its darkest turn during a break at the Kollur Souparnika River location. Junior artist M.F. Kapil, just 24, went for a swim off-duty. Strong currents swept him away. Hours later, his body was recovered. Production halted. While the makers stressed this happened off-set and was a "personal accident," the death of a young crew member cast a long shadow over the production. A police probe followed.

Off-set losses (May–June 2025)

Within weeks, two more deaths struck, though not directly tied to set conditions. Comedian Rakesh Pujare succumbed to a cardiac arrest in May. Then, in June, mimicry artist Kalabhavan Niju collapsed on set with chest pain, dying en route to the hospital. While health-related, each incident highlighted the importance of on-call medical support.

Massive set destruction & environmental fines (Early 2025)

Months before the drownings and boat capsize, the team faced a different kind of blow. A massive, expensive set built for the film was utterly destroyed by fierce, unexpected storms and relentless rain. To compound the problem, the crew later drew flak and fines from forest officials, accused of disrupting habitats and illegally dumping waste during their work.

Boat capsize at Mani Reservoir (16 June 2025)

The most recent jolt came with the boat capsizing incident at the Mani Dam reservoir. While filming a scene, the vessel, overloaded with Shetty and crew, overturned, plunging everyone into the water. Shallow depths prevented fatalities, but equipment was lost, production stopped, and safety protocols came under intense scrutiny. Police are investigating overloading as a likely cause.


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