Twitter has now reached out to TikTok owner, ByteDance, showing interest in buying the US operations of the video-sharing app, private sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

It, however, looks like a herculean task for Twitter in outbidding Microsoft, and concluding the megadeal deal in 45 days, as directed by US President, Donald Trump.

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The odds against Twitter:

Twitter has a market capitalization of around $30 billion, almost as much as the same valuation of TikTok’s US operation. What this means, therefore, is that Twitter will need to raise additional funds before the deal could see the light of day.

“Twitter will have a hard time putting together enough financing to acquire even the U.S. operations of TikTok. It doesn’t have enough borrowing capacity,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan.

“If it (Twitter) tries to put together an investor group, the terms will be tough. Twitter’s own shareholders might prefer that management focus on its existing business,” he added.

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However, one of Twitter’s major shareholders, private equity firm Silver Lake, is interested in supporting Twitter in part for the required funds needed to pull the deal through, one of the sources to Reuters added.

“Twitter has also privately made a case that its bid would face less regulatory scrutiny than Microsoft’s, and will not face any pressure from China given that it is not active in that country,” the sources said.

ByteDance, Twitter, and TikTok declined to comment.

TikTok has come under fire from US lawmakers over national security concerns surrounding data collection.

Some days ago, Nairametrics reported about Microsoft’s offer to acquire TikTok’s U.S operation, following the recent escalation of President Trump’s attacks on TikTok and other Chinese tech firms.

The world’s leading technology brands, Facebook and Microsoft, recently bashed Apple for its restrictive App Store policies, which they claim prevents them from launching their gaming services on Apple devices.

Microsoft also disclosed that it will no longer be launching a limited testing version of the app on iOS. The gaming platform Microsoft had created for Apple devices can only support one game, which Microsoft said was due to Apple’s App Store policies.

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Microsoft’s concern

Microsoft revealed that such policies set by Apple will make it unable to launch its game streaming service commercially on iOS due to these limitations.

“Unfortunately, we do not have a path to bring our vision of cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to gamers on iOS via the Apple App Store,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement Friday.

“Apple stands alone as the only general-purpose platform to deny consumers from cloud gaming and game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass. And it consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps even when they include interactive content.”

READ ALSO: Facebook rivals TikTok with launch of video-sharing product inside instagram

Facebook’s concern

The social media giant finally struggled to launch an Apple version of its gaming app on Friday, but it disclosed that it was compelled to make a concession to bring it on Apple’s App Store and had to remove the ability to play games instantly.

“Unfortunately, we had to remove gameplay functionality entirely in order to get Apple’s approval on the standalone Facebook Gaming app – meaning iOS users have an inferior experience to those using Android,” Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in a statement Friday.

“We’re staying focused on building communities for the more than 380 million people who play games on Facebook every month — whether Apple allows it in a standalone app or not.”

Microsoft and Facebook seem not to be the only ones facing challenges in bringing cloud gaming services on iOS devices. Google’s Stadia and Nvidia’s GeForce had also experienced difficulties in launching iOS versions of their apps due to the App Store’s guidelines.

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Will Apple cave in?

“There is quite a lot of pressure building from different entities, and they are attempting to build consumer awareness of the issues involved as a way to convince Apple to change its policies,” Piers Harding-Rolls, research director of games at Ampere Analysis, told CNBC.

“Is it inevitable that Apple will cave in? Not necessarily. Apple is plowing its own path with privacy and how it wants to manage its ecosystem.”

China’s tech industry is having a rough time right now. The stock price of China’s tech juggernaut, Tencent, lost 5.04% on Friday morning after America’s President Donald Trump issued executive orders targeting TikTok and WeChat.

The Hang Seng Tech index, which tracks the 30 largest technology companies listed in Hong Kong that pass the screening criteria, also fell 2.51% to close at 7,386.66. On Mainland China, the Nasdaq-style start-up board Chinext slipped 2.065% on the day to about 3,059.87.

Note that WeChat, which belongs to Tencent, and TikTok whose parent company is ByteDance, are both based in China.

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What happened: President Trump, yesterday, issued directives banning any U.S. transactions with the Chinese tech firms —Tencent and ByteDance. The ban will take effect in 45 days and could attract retaliation from the Chinese.

According to Trump, WeChat “automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.” He went on to say that the application also captures personal information of Chinese nationals visiting the U.S.

READ ALSO: TikTok to relocate headquarters to London following approval by UK ministers

China’s response: China’s foreign officials disclosed on Friday at a media briefing that it was strongly against President Trump’s executive orders. It said that China will defend the legitimate rights and business interests of China according to foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.