What a Microsoft deal to buy TikTok would look like

• Microsoft promises a complete break from the Chinese parent company, ByteDance — not just data and servers, but also software.
• What’s essential is there can be no lingering connection of any kind to ByteDance or non-U.S. TikTok.

Trump "has a deal on his desk" whereby Microsoft would lead an acquisition of 100% of the U.S. operations of TikTok, Axios' Dan Primack reported yesterday.

• Microsoft seems to believe total separation from ByteDance is attainable.
• Microsoft has the technical know-how/capabilities, money and global government relationships to pull this off.

Context: Presidents normally can't just order a ban on individual companies. But TikTok's foreign ownership gives the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States broad authority over it.

The bottom line: Look for the above formula to be the minimum.

• People who have discussed the issue with Trump think he'd be fine with a simple ban.

Primack's thought bubble: Trump likely has a binary choice on TikTok: Shut it down, thus risking the ire of 100 million U.S. users just months from an election, or let Microsoft buy it.