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The future of TikTok in the United States continues to be under the spotlight ahead of its sale or divest deadline this weekend.
More potential acquirers of TikTok have emerged ahead of the 5 April deadline, after US President Donald Trump held a meeting with aides at the White House on Wednesday to discuss possible TikTok investors or acquirers.
Trump last week had offered Beijing an ‘inducement’ for them to approve the sale of TikTok’s operations in the United States, saying that he would consider a reduction in tariffs on China if the Chinese government approves a sale of TikTok’s US operations.
Possible buyers
There are a number of possible American acquirers for TikTok.
In January TikTok had denied a ‘pure fiction’ report of a possible sale to Elon Musk.
Also in January a group of investors, including American billionaire and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, submitted the ‘People’s Bid’ to buy the platform from ByteDance. Investors in the consortium have reportedly offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash for TikTok’s US platform.
In previous years when Trump had tried to force TikTok’s sale during his first term, Oracle, Microsoft and other firms including Walmart were potential acquirers.
More recently Oracle and the investment firm Blackstone have been touted as acquirers or investors.
Aides for VP JD Vance have also reportedly reached out to some parties, such as AI startup Perplexity AI, to get additional details about their bid.
Other interested parties include Trump’s former Treasury secretary Steve Munchin and Rumble.
Jesse Tinsley, the founder of the payroll firm Employer.com, has also reportedly said he too has organised a consortium, and is offering ByteDance more than $30 billion for TikTok.
Amazon bid?
Now Reuters has reported that Amazon has sent last-minute bid to US officials to buy all of TikTok.
Separately, a consortium led by OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely are the latest to throw their hats into the ring for TikTok.
Startup Zoop, which is run by Stokely, has partnered with a cryptocurrency foundation to submit a late-stage plan to bid for TikTok, the two told Reuters Wednesday.
A US administration official confirmed Amazon had sent a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Amazon declined to comment, while TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported.
TikTok talks
Beijing-based ByteDance has not officially changed its stance, and has always stated that it would rather shutter the app in the US rather than sell it.
Beijing likewise has always opposed a TikTok sale.
Yet in January one of the Chinese company’s board members revealed that ByteDance was in active talks with the Trump administration over a way of keeping TikTok active in the US without selling it – reflecting ByteDance’s efforts to maintain services to TikTok’s 170 million US users
Then last month Trump said his administration was in touch with four different groups about the sale of TikTok, and that all options were good.
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