Topline
The Trump administration and software giant Oracle—led by billionaire Larry Ellison—are discussing a deal to take over TikTok, according to NPR, the latest company that is rumored to be interested in buying ByteDance’s popular social media app to navigate around a U.S. ban.
Oracle chair Larry Ellison delivers a keynote address during the 2019 Oracle OpenWorld on September … [+]
Key Facts
Oracle has discussed a deal that would involve it and other U.S. investors, potentially including Microsoft, taking a majority stake in TikTok while China-based ByteDance would still keep a minority stake, NPR reported Saturday, adding the deal is still “in flux”—after a similar agreement involving Oracle fell apart in 2020 (President Donald Trump said Saturday he’s “never spoken” with Ellison about a deal to buy TikTok).
Perplexity AI submitted an offer to ByteDance to merge the company with TikTok and New Capital Partners, in a deal that would allow for most of ByteDance’s investors to retain their equity stakes, a source familiar with the situation told CNBC.
Chinese government officials have considered selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Tesla CEO Elon Musk as China discusses navigating a relationship with President Donald Trump, whose ties to Musk have tightened in recent months, Bloomberg reported (ByteDance, responding to Bloomberg’s report, told Forbes it “can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction.”)
YouTuber MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, wrote on X he would “buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned,” later claiming he had “so many billionaires” reach out to him and said he would “see if we can pull this off.”
Project Liberty, an internet advocacy group run by billionaire Frank McCourt, submitted a proposal—backed by “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary, Guggenheim Securities and others—on Jan. 9 to buy TikTok’s U.S.-based assets, saying the group would restructure the company to collect less user data.
O’Leary told Fox he put $20 billion “on the table” for TikTok, saying the Supreme Court backed a law banning the app in the U.S. so that it could be sold to an “American syndicate.”
A former TikTok employee suggested to Forbes that Amazon could potentially purchase the app, as Amazon—the third-largest advertiser on the app—has deepened its relationship with the platform after announcing a partnership allowing users to browse and purchase Amazon products on TikTok.
The video-sharing platform Rumble offered to buy TikTok in March 2024, saying the company was “ready to join a consortium with other parties” to purchase the app, though neither Rumble nor CEO Chris Pavlovski disclosed details about the offer.
Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard’s former CEO, expressed interest in purchasing TikTok and has floated the idea with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others to help finance the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, though Kotick has not commented publicly on the offer.
Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told CNBC in March 2024 he planned to “put together a group” to buy TikTok, later telling Bloomberg in May he had reached out to “a lot of tech companies” about buying the app and recreating its algorithm, which ByteDance has said would not be included in a sale.
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Forbes Valuation
Musk is the wealthiest person on Earth with an estimated net worth of $428.8 billion. Ellison is the world’s third-wealthiest person, at $228.1 billion. McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has a net worth valued at $1.4 billion.
Why Could Tiktok Be Sold?
A law passed by Congress and signed by former President Joe Biden last year bans TikTok in the United States unless ByteDance sells the app—a move driven by national security concerns over ByteDance’s ties to China. The ban took effect Jan. 19, prompting TikTok to take itself offline for more than 12 hours, but the platform restored service in the U.S. after Trump pledged to extend the sale deadline. The ban is now set to take effect in about 75 days under an executive order signed by Trump, who has pushed for the platform to be taken over by a joint venture including ByteDance and new U.S.-based owners. TikTok has pushed back against the law and argued a sale of the app’s U.S. operations would be infeasible, claiming in a legal filing in May the proposed ban was “simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally.”
What Companies Have Tried To Buy Tiktok?
Microsoft reportedly offered to buy TikTok from ByteDance in August 2020, and the deal—referred to by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella as the “strangest thing I’ve ever worked on”—nearly closed before falling apart. Oracle and Walmart announced in September 2020 the companies had reached a deal to acquire TikTok, but that deal fell through after the Biden administration reportedly stopped it from moving forward to address the app’s potential security risks.
How Much Is Tiktok Worth?
Dan Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, told CBS the financial services firm had valued TikTok at about $100 billion including the algorithm. Ives has also suggested ByteDance could expect $40 billion to $50 billion for the platform’s U.S. operations.
Key Background
Critics of TikTok argue the app could be used be used to collect American users’ data or promote government propaganda. Forbes previously reported about TikTok spying on journalists, hosting Chinese propaganda on the app criticizing U.S. politicians, allegedly mishandling user data—including financial information, Social Security numbers and personal contacts—and tracking “sensitive words.” TikTok and ByteDance have denied any wrongdoing or links to the Chinese government, arguing they have never turned over user data to government officials and American user data is housed in the United States.
Further Reading
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