President Trump's set a deadline for Microsoft -- or any other tech giant for that matter -- to buy TikTok's U.S. operations or he'll shut the app down for good.
The Prez spoke to reporters Monday at the White House and was asked about Microsoft's ongoing negotiations to buy the popular Chinese-owned app. Trump said TikTok will undoubtedly "be out of business" in the U.S. on Sept. 15 "unless Microsoft or somebody else is able to buy it and work out a deal."
As we reported ... Microsoft confirmed it is currently in talks to buy TikTok from its parent company, ByteDance. Microsoft had already said it's planning to complete its discussions with TikTok team no later than September 15 ... but Trump's set that date as the deadline to get it done.
Trump says the issue is privacy ... the data of U.S. TikTok users falling into the Chinese government's hands. He told reporters TikTok's U.S. enterprise can't be controlled by China, but he'd rather have an American company with strong cybersecurity run operations here.
The clock's really ticking now, and TikTok users and entrepreneurs are paying close attention.