PALO ALTO, U.S. -- Microsoft and TikTok have a deadline of Sept. 15 to reach a deal on the latter's acquisition before the wildly popular short video is shut out of the U.S. But with the clock ticking, numerous questions and roadblocks remain, including what exactly the software giant is trying to buy from TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance and whether the Trump administration will allow the deal to go through.
ByteDance's founder himself has expressed skepticism about the whole process.
