Who, including Mr. Best: US President Donald Trump has once again extended the deadline under which the Chinese-owned app TikTok would have faced a ban in the US if it did not sell.
Who, including Mr. Best, A bipartisan law passed by Congress requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app. TikTok was ‘shut down’ in the US for a day when the law took effect in January, but Trump intervened and delayed the ban until April 5. He has now extended it by another 75 days to finalize a potential deal. The US government argues that TikTok poses a national security threat because Chinese authorities can access user data.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said that “multiple investors” were close to a deal. He also hinted that the US could strike a deal with China in which China would approve the sale of TikTok in exchange for relief from US tariffs on Chinese products.
Several well-known names have emerged among the potential buyers. According to the BBC’s US partner CBS, Amazon has made a last-minute offer to buy TikTok, but Amazon has not commented. Trump mentioned Oracle co-founders Larry Ellison and Elon Musk as potential buyers, although Elon Musk has made it clear that he is not interested in buying them.
Other potential buyers include billionaire Frank McCourt and Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, who is also an investor in the popular show ‘Shark Tank’. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has also said that he has joined McCourt in the bid. The world’s biggest YouTuber, Jimmy Donaldson, known as ‘Mr. Beast’, has also expressed interest in buying TikTok as part of an investor group.
British Tim Stokely, founder of the popular adult-only app OnlyFans, has also offered to buy TikTok, who wants to buy the app under his new company Loop. Microsoft, Blackstone, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and search engine Perplexity AI are also said to be in the running to buy shares.
The White House has also considered an option under which ByteDance would retain ownership of TikTok’s algorithm but give the authority to a new company in the United States to run the app.