Twitter has had preliminary negotiations about a possible combination with the TikTok video-sharing app, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
Sources told the WSJ that a deal with TikTok would involve its operations in the United States.
However, Microsoft is more likely to secure a deal with TikTok than Twitter, which is much smaller. While Twitter is currently valued at about $29 billion, Microsoft's market capitalisation is higher than $1.6 trillion.
Microsoft, who has been negotiating to buy TikTok's operations not only in the US, but also in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, said last week that it discussed a potential deal with the Trump Administration.
Microsoft also said that TikTok will be subject to a complete security review and all private data of TikTok's American users will be transferred to the US in order to ensure transparency as well as government oversight.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday prohibiting US companies from conducting transactions with TikTok's owner ByteDance. If Microsoft fails to acquire TikTok by 15 September, the company will have to shut down its US operations.
