The daily business briefing: August 3, 2020

Microsoft confirms it is negotiating to buy TikTok's U.S. operations, Lord & Taylor files for bankruptcy, and more 

A Lord & Taylor store
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1. Microsoft confirms talks to buy TikTok U.S. operations

Microsoft confirmed Sunday it was negotiating to buy the U.S. operations of popular social app TikTok from Chinese technology company ByteDance. Microsoft said it hoped to reach a deal by Sept. 15. The talks were first reported two days earlier. President Trump said he was against a TikTok acquisition by Microsoft, and that he would try to ban the app, which the Trump administration has accused of feeding data to the Chinese Communist Party. Microsoft said CEO Satya Nadella had spoken with Trump, who reportedly has given ByteDance 45 days to make a deal. Microsoft said the new structure "would build on the experience TikTok users currently love, while adding world-class security, privacy, and digital safety protections."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.