TikTok had been ordered by then-US President Donald Trump to
separate its US, version from Chinese parent ByteDance because of national
security concerns about the collection of US users' data. Microsoft in August
2020 began talks on the proposed acquisition but the deal collapsed by
September.
Trump's divestment push ended by the time he left office in
January and no potential suitor ending up acquiring TikTok.
Speaking at the Code Conference in Beverly Hills,
California, Nadella said he was looking forward to bringing Microsoft's
security, child safety, and cloud expertise to TikTok.
"It's unbelievable," Nadella said of the
experience during an on-stage interview. "I learned so many things about
so much and so many people. First of all, TikTok came to us. We didn't go to
TikTok."
"TikTok was caught in between a lot of things happening
across two capitals," Nadella continued. "President Trump had a
particular point of view of what he was trying to get done there, and then it
just dropped off. The [US government] had a particular set of requirements and
then it just disappeared."
Nadella said what attracted ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming to
Microsoft was the US company's services related to content moderation and child
safety, developed through products included in Xbox video gaming tools and on
business social network LinkedIn.
ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Nadella said he has no idea whether the US is still pushing
for a deal under President Joe Biden. The Biden administration has said it is
reviewing the national security concerns.
"At this point, I'm happy with what I have,"
Nadella said.
He also expressed support for greater government regulation
of cryptocurrency rules, which could stifle ransomware attacks since the
ransoms often flow through opaque systems.