A recent report has suggested that Alphabet had considered participating in a larger consortium that would seek to acquire the US assets of TikTok. It appears that the discussions around forming a consortium took place some weeks ago with Alphabet weighing in with a minority, non-voting stake through one of its investment arms.
Bloomberg said in a report that Alphabet did not lead the initiative and that it wasn't clear which US company did or why things did not fructify beyond it.
Software giant Oracle is the latest and an unlikely rival to Microsoft in the campaign to acquire parts of embattled video sharing platform TikTok. The firm is said to have met with representatives of TikTok parent company ByteDance to discuss a potential acquisition of divisions in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
While the short-video sharing platform was banned by India in the aftermath of the border clashes with China in June, President Donald Trump ordered the company to sell TikTok's US assets within 90 days, building on an earlier order.
The report around Google's interest in TikTok appears plausible given that the Chinese app was a potent rival to YouTube, often serving as an alternative and far simpler option for creative talent. Why it wouldn't add India to this list is anybody guess, though sources in Microsoft's India office tell us that it was largely due to ByteDance's stiff asking price.
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