History repeats itself, quickly it seems, as U.S. President Trump confirms that Microsoft is indeed in the running to buy TikTok.

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

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.

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.

US President Donald Trump has said that 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. When asked by reporters whether the US tech giant was preparing a bid,

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.

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.

President Donald Trump on Monday said Microsoft was in talks to acquire TikTok, shortly after the social media app went dark last week. He further suggested that he would like to see a bidding war over the popular platform.

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 Corp. is in talks to acquire the US arm of ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, President Donald Trump said Monday night, without elaborating.

Trump extended the deadline for TikTok to find new ownership that satisfies the government by 75 days, to early April from January 19. Microsoft declined to comment.