Photo Credit: Jernej Furman / CC by 2.0
Who’s still in the running for consideration to buy TikTok? And will it even matter? Here’s an updated list of probable and interested parties.
Since Trump’s executive order extending the deadline by which ByteDance must divest TikTok or face a ban in the US, numerous parties have come out of the woodwork looking for a piece of the pie. But the mechanics of a potential sale are still up in the air — and that’s assuming TikTok’s China-based parent will even agree to sell.
ByteDance has been saying for years that selling TikTok is not an option, partly due to the Chinese government’s unwillingness to part with its proprietary algorithms. And it’s not even particularly clear if TikTok’s American investors are interested in a sale, regardless.
But the list of those interested in buying TikTok continues to grow, and Trump has dropped several hints about a potential bidding war and the hopes that the United States would own a portion of the app. Here’s what we know so far.
Who Wants to Buy TikTok?
Donald Trump has mentioned several interested parties by name in recent weeks, including Elon Musk, Microsoft, and Oracle. Notably, Microsoft, Oracle, and Walmart made an offer for TikTok back in 2020, but were shut down, especially since ByteDance has not shown any interest in selling.
Other offers include the People’s Bid for TikTok, which includes Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt, Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, and World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. Tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley has also assembled a consortium of interested tech heavyweights which includes Roblox CEO David Baszucki and YouTuber MrBeast.
The People’s Bid for TikTok
- Offer Amount: $20 billion
- Participants: Frank McCourt, Kevin O’Leary, Tim Berners-Lee, “other investors”
Jesse Tinsley-assembled Consortium
- Offer Amount: “Significantly more” than $20 billion
- Participants: Jesse Tinsley (tech entrepreneur, Employer.com founder), David Baszucki (Roblox co-founder and CEO), Nathan McCauley (Anchorage Digital co-founder and CEO), MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson, YouTuber)
Elon Musk
- Offer Amount: None specified
Musk hasn’t even mentioned an interest in buying TikTok, but Trump has floated his name several times as a potential buyer whom he would support. Notably, Musk does ample business in China via Tesla, so the Chinese government may be more inclined to sell to him than another party, if at all.
Microsoft
- Offer Amount: None specified
Microsoft made an offer for TikTok alongside Oracle and Walmart back in 2020, but their continued interest in the platform is unknown. No one from Microsoft has shown interest in 2025, though President Trump keeps floating them as a potential bidder.
Oracle
- Offer Amount: None specified
Currently a key service provider for TikTok, managing and securing Stateside user data. The company’s name has been floated repeatedly as being in talks to purchase TikTok along with other parties — but Trump has refuted this, claiming Oracle chairman Larry Ellison would have told him if he were interested.
Perplexity AI
- Offer Amount: None specified
Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas has expressed interest in his company having a piece of the TikTok pie. The company aims to disrupt Google’s dominance in the search engine market and believe acquiring TikTok would serve to accomplish that.
Steven Mnuchin
- Offer Amount: None specified
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC he started creating an investor group to purchase TikTok, but has offered no details about who may be in that group or how much their offer would be. He helped broker the deal in 2020 that would have seen Oracle, Walmart, and Microsoft purchase TikTok.
Bobby Kotick
- Offer Amount: “Hundreds of billions of dollars.”
The former Activision Blizzard CEO told The Wall Street Journal he approached ByteDance executive chair Zhang Yiming to express interest in a TikTok purchase. His incredibly high offer means he would need to assemble a massive team of partners to make it viable. He has suggested he would partner with someone like OpenAI’s Sam Altman, but whether this is actually in the works is unknown.
Meta
- Offer Amount: None specified
Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has shown interest in TikTok, though his company would likely face antitrust scrutiny if it were to buy the app. Rumors have swirled on social media that the company is engaged in a backdoor buyout of TikTok—though those remain rumors for now.
Alphabet/Google
- Offer Amount: None specified
Like Meta, Google has also shown an interest in acquiring TikTok. But like Meta, the company would also undoubtedly face antitrust scrutiny over such a purchase. Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt said he looked at buying TikTok, but believes that the government should regulate the platform instead.
What Happens Next?
It’s unclear whether any attempts to buy TikTok will be accepted by ByteDance and the Chinese government. Further, it’s unknown whether a partial US-based TikTok ownership would actually solve the national security concerns that led Congress to pass the law banning TikTok in the first place.
The crux of the issue remains that any ties to the CCP could still require TikTok (or ByteDance) to hand over sensitive user data to the Chinese government. Similarly, concerns remain that the Chinese government could use the app to spread propaganda to US users. Currently, it’s not clear in what capacity the United States could become an owner or investor, even if ByteDance were willing to sell. One wrinkle in current Chinese law is that no algorithm can be sold or exported from the country—and TikTok’s success is built on its algorithm.
The law makes it illegal for companies to distribute TikTok in the US unless the platform is divested from ByteDance. The platform cannot maintain an operational relationship with any Chinese-owned or controlled company. Ultimately, efforts to divest the app could prove fruitless, especially if ByteDance and China remain firm in their stance that the platform cannot be sold.
This article was originally published by a www.digitalmusicnews.com . Read the Original article here. .