Google CEO Sundar Pichai Rules Out Buying TikTok

Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said the company has no plans to acquire TikTok.

Mark Bergen

27 Aug 2020, 03:41 PM IST

Google CEO Sundar Pichai Rules Out Buying TikTok

Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google Inc., exits after a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S. (Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said the company has no plans to acquire TikTok.

During an interview on the podcast show Pivot Schooled, Pichai was asked whether Google was going to buy the popular video app. “We are not,” he replied.

Microsoft Corp. and other U.S. technology companies are working on TikTok bids after President Donald Trump threatened to ban the app and ordered its Chinese owner, ByteDance Ltd. to sell the U.S. part of the business.

Google parent Alphabet Inc. considered joining a group bid as a minority investor, but the plan fizzled, Bloomberg News has reported.

In the podcast interview, Pichai confirmed that TikTok pays for Google’s cloud services. He also said TikTok is one of the tech businesses flourishing during the pandemic that is not facing antitrust scrutiny, unlike Google.