Microsoft says its bid to buy TikTok has been rejected

Microsoft says it has had its bid to buy TikTok rejected (AP)

Microsoft says its bid to buy popular video-sharing app TikTok has been rejected, removing a leading suitor for the Chinese-owned app a week before President Donald Trump promises to follow through with a plan to ban it in the US.

Microsoft said in a statement on Sunday that TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, “let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft”.