U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a bidding war over the app.

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

Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20 to extend the ban on TikTok, implemented by former President Joe Biden last year. The order granted a 75-day extension, which Trump said will allow him to consult with his advisors and heads of "relevant" departments and agencies to address national security concerns posed by TikTok.

TikTok, which faces the ticking clock of a ban enforcement, is being pursued by several suitors for a US merger or sale.

U.S. search engine startup Perplexity AI has revised the merger proposal it had submitted to TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to create a new entity combining Perplexity and TikTok U.S., a person familiar with the proposal told Reuters on Sunday.

AI search engine startup Perplexity AI has put forward a revised proposal for a merger with TikTok's US operations, reported Reuters. According to a source, the search engine startup's plan involves creating a new entity that would combine Perplexity and TikTok US,