Larry Ellison’s TikTok bid puts Oracle Chairman back in the spotlight

Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison’s pursuit of a deal with TikTok could win him two prizes at once: a flashy new customer for his company’s lagging cloud-computing business and a victory over a fierce rival.

Mr. Ellison, 76 years old and chairman of the company, has reason to be a big fan of Chinese-owned TikTok, a video-sharing app famously beloved by young people. But first Oracle, TikTok and their partners have to get a deal done that could return the business-software company to the center of the tech world.

Mr. Ellison maneuvered Oracle ahead of Microsoft Corp. in the race to become TikTok’s U.S. tech partner, and personally lobbied President Trump to sign off on a preliminary agreement, people familiar with the talks said.