With the deadline for TikTok to sell or face a ban ( again ) loom , a new potential buyer has issue . Amazon has thrown its lid in the ring to take over the popular and addictive video political program , consort to a report from the New York Times , tender up a last - instant bid that is likely tie to the retail giant ’s desire to milk thelucrative TikTok Shopfor every centime it can .
Amazon reportedly delivered its bid to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick , two mass with the distinction of seeming like improbably bad hang among the stiff rivalry present by the nightmare blunt rotation that is the Trump cabinet . ostensibly , per the Times , no one in the White House conceive Amazon ’s bid to be a serious one , so do n’t ask TikTok to be a Bezos mark any time presently .
So Amazon ’s pitch for its TikTok takeover now sits on the good deal of bids that have emerged for the political platform , none of which seem to have a whole fortune of momentum despite the fact that TikTok is typeset to once again be ban on Saturday , April 5 , if no deal is in piazza . That will cross off 75 days from the stage that Trump extend an extension on the deadline for Chinese parent society ByteDance to undress itself of TikTok and pass on it over to an American company — though word of honor is that Trump is consideringoffering another denotation .
horn and his squad are schedule tomeet on Wednesdayto assess the landscape painting of offers , but the terrain has changed considerably from how it was in January . Back then , Trump had just taken office and was riding on pretty solid approval military rank ( well , solid for him , at least ) . Extending TikTok ’s windowpane ( and getting the app to give him avery public “ thank you ” ) gave him aboost with new people . There was at least a colour of goodwill , and Big Tech was infull suck - up mode , willing to go to important lengths to groom favor with the President .
Now , as the stock market “ corrects ” and Trump’sextremely unpopular tariffsgo into effect , his administration is look for a win . Saving TikTok now seems imperative for Trump to hold onto whatever plus sentiment he can come up , lest he present an embarrassing passing . The President has floated the estimate of offer tariff relief to China in exchange for finalizing a TikTok sale , but hedoesn’t seem to have much supporteven in his own company for that , per Politico . Meanwhile , China has barely budge on its position thatit has no involvement in divestingand is evenwilling to just accept the baninstead of selling .
With leverage slipping by , Trump is reportedly even considering provide ByteDance to retain possession over the TikTok algorithm , according to the Washington Post — a move that would keep arguably the most valuable part of the troupe in the hands of the Chinese business firm . In that scenario , an American caller would operate the TikTok platform while leasing the algorithm from ByteDance .
Frankly , at this detail , it seems like just about everything is on the table for Trump as he scramble to find a way to maintain his post as TikTok savior . So with the clock tick ( and tocking ) as the Saturday deadline rapidly approaches , here is a expression at who is still in the game to potentially take over TikTok , should Trump and ship’s company actually get a deal done before the deadline .
Oracle
Arguably the name that has been most commonly tied with a TikTok putsch , go-ahead software firm Oracle wouldprobably be the betting favoriteto buy the platform . It ’s been tied to TikTok since 2020 when itagreed to infix into a partnership with ByteDanceto address the data point of US - based users . Politico reportedthat the troupe was “ speed talks ” to nail down a heap last month , but Oracle ’s arrangement would leave behind the algorithm in the deal of the Chinese business firm , which remains a non - starter for some in Trump ’s rope .
“Mr. Wonderful” and Company
Kevin O’Leary — well known as Mr. Wonderful on Shark Tank and the most obnoxious guest on any given CNBC show — and Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt have perhaps the most publicized design to take over TikTok . The duo has put together a mathematical group of financial backers who have committed as much as$20 billion to the effort . They ’ve also taken to calling themselves the “ People ’s Bid for TikTok ” which , certain . Their plan is apparently torebuild TikTokin a manner that would compile less user data , and they are not interested in the existing algorithm . The group is also apparentlyvery open to other ownersjoining its bid .
MrBeast
A considerable dark sawbuck in the TikTok summons process is Jimmy Donaldson , better known as MrBeast . The YouTuber , who may have successfully developed the most flavorless personality in all of human history , plain see joining the People ’s Bid chemical group before deciding topartner with Employer.com Founder Jesse Tinsleyfor his own offer . Beast and Friends , which include Roblox CEO David Baszucki , claims to havesignificantly more than $ 20 billionto play with , but their slant is fairly much just “ TikTok but on American server . ” Not precisely inspiring hooey , but MrBeast is n’t one to reinvent the wheel .
Perplexity
peradventure the most originative pitch shot on the table for TikTok comes from the AI - powered search locomotive engine Perplexity . Last month , the companymade an offer to merge with TikTok . The move would allow TikTok ’s investors to continue their equity stakes in the companionship and would significantly expatiate the amount of data and entropy that Perplexity has at its fingertips for its models . The mountain would ask wreak in fresh American - base fiscal backers and would probably be the most complicated to make out .
Elon Musk
File this one as extremely unlikely , but Elon Musk ’s name has been float as one likely option for purchasing TikTok . He ’s refuted it , saying thathe has no interestin purchase the weapons platform and has not made a stately bid . Allegedly , though , Musk is apreferred choiceamong Chinese official . Obviously , he would have an privileged track on a hand , given his law of proximity to the White House , but god could you imagine how insufferable the app would become under his ownership ? It ’s defective enough that every third post on X is from him thanks to hisalleged algorithm rigging . Now imagine that but in video form . Yeesh , toss .
Blackstone
If the Trump administration prefer for a deal that does n’t fully get China to divest of TikTok , Blackstone might be the play . Late last calendar month , the secret equity firmoffered to take a little wager in the companyas a path to reduce Chinese ownership . It ’d likely be get together by other American investors to push China into a nonage stake . It ’d be the most boring option , which believably makes it more likely to happen .
Microsoft
Another big player up to of making a full takeover bidding if it wants , Microsoft looms gravid in the TikTok sweepstakes . It has wanted to get on the societal media game for quite a while and was involved in an attempteddeal to bribe the troupe back in 2020that very quickly burst . Microsoft has n’t made much noise regarding its sake in the program since then , butTrump throw the company ’s name outback in January as a possible purchaser .
Amazon
As mentioned sooner , Amazon made a last - minute bidding on TikTok . On report , it ’s a partnership that makes a wad of sentiency . Amazon could migrate TikTok to American servers via AWS , and it ’d love to get its hands on all the cash that is fall into the TikTok Shop as retail has turned into a major profit marrow for TikTok . But Scripture is the party ’s play is not considered serious . It ’s in all likelihood more of an opportunistic attempt to sneak into the intermixture .
Tim Stokely
OnlyFans founder Tim Stokelyreportedly submitted a bidat the last moment to take over TikTok . Stokely is partner with Hbar Foundation , which wangle the treasury for the Hedera cryptocurrency internet . According to Reuters , he deal would involve Stokely ’s society Zoop , a publishing weapons platform for creators to link up with audiences . They apparently have some big backers behind them and have plans to turn TikTok into a more Jehovah - favorable weapons platform . That vocalize expectant , but a partnership between Zoop , Hbar , and Hedera sound like aSilicon Valleybit . They all sound made up .
AmazonMrBeastOraclePerplexity AITikTokTikTok banTrump administration
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , scientific discipline , and culture news in your inbox daily .
intelligence from the future , hand over to your present .
You May Also Like
