U.S. President Donald Trump has become the biggest and loudest advertiser of TikTok in the America right now. He earnestly wants to secure a deal before the 75-day extension of the Congress-sanctioned and Supreme Court-validated ban on TikTok in the U.S. over national security.
There are already bidders seeking to obtain a stake in the app.
“The deal I think is this. I’ve met with the owners of TikTok, the big owners, it’s worthless if it doesn’t get a permit… with a permit it’s worth like a trillion dollars,” said the U.S. president. “What I’m thinking of saying to someone is buy it and give half to the US, half, and we’ll give you a permit… the US will be the ultimate partner and the US will make it very worthwhile for them.”
Does Trump have a preference in who the buyer should be?
“I would be, if he wanted to buy it. I’d like Larry [Ellison] to buy it too,” stated Trump, suggesting his openness to Elon Musk or Larry Ellison purchasing TikTok.
Investor groups led by billionaire Frank McCourt and YouTuber and TikTok star James ‘Jimmy’ Donaldson, aka MrBeast, have also made bids to buy TikTok.
Microsoft might make another bid. It had previously made a bid to purchase TikTok in a joint bid with Walmart.
Rumble too.
“Rumble is ready to join a consortium with other parties seeking to acquire and operate TikTok inside the United States,” said the video streaming platform similar to YouTube and Twitch. “Specifically, we are ready to serve as a cloud technology partner.”
Project Liberty, led by former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, had also made an offer to purchase TikTok in the U.S.
Perplexity AI threw its hat in the ring on Saturday bidding to acquire TikTok’s U.S. assets. Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of video game company Activision, is considerd another potential bidder.
Meanwhile, General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford, a ByteDance board member, said, “We’ll get on with it, as soon as maybe the end of the week in terms of negotiating what might work… The Chinese government, the US government and the company and the board all have to be involved in this conversation.”
Trump is assuring any eventual buyer that acquring the U.S. assets of TikTok is a big deal.
“I would like the United States to have a 50 per cent ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up,” Trump stated on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump added, “The deal I think is this. I’ve met with the owners of TikTok, the big owners, it’s worthless if it doesn’t get a permit… with a permit it’s worth like a trillion dollars. What I’m thinking of saying to someone is buy it and give half to the US, half, and we’ll give you a permit… the US will be the ultimate partner and the US will make it very worthwhile for them.”
[…] Going, Going…Gone? List of Names Interested in Buying 50% Stake in TikTok: Trump Suggests Elon Mus… […]