As we all know, TikTok is in limbo in the United States. Citing concerns about foreign interference from China, government officials passed a law that stated ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, would need to sell the app, otherwise the app would be banned in the country. The deadline for the ban was originally set for Jan. 19, and following the app briefly going dark on Jan. 18, President Donald Trump extended the deadline to April 4, giving ByteDance 75 more days to find someone to buy TikTok.
ByteDance has previously stated it had no plans to sell, but with the ban looming, it’s possible that will change. But who (or what) would actually buy TikTok? It’d certainly have to be a person or entity with extremely deep pockets, considering TikTok is worth an estimated $100 billion. That said, experts have expressed concerns about yet another social media app being owned by tech billionaires (read: Meta and X/Twitter). Paul Reilly, a senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow, warned EuroNews in January that it’s dangerous for the mass dissemination of information to be “at the whim” of billionaires. “They’re very often promoting free speech absolutism… [but] it’s very poorly defined,” Reilly said. “When they say they’re not about censorship, they do censor opinions when they don’t agree.
Many others have echoed this concern about billionaires owning social media platforms, but it still appears that if TikTok is sold, it will very likely have to be bought by a wealthy individual or company.
Here are the main contenders seeking to acquire the app.
Elon Musk
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is currently the richest person in the world, and he is no stranger to buying social media platforms. He made a deal to acquire the app formerly known as Twitter in 2022, subsequently laying off half of the company’s existing staff and renaming the platform “X.” Musk has not publicly stated whether he intends to make a bid for TikTok, but Trump stated on Jan. 22 that he would be “open” to Musk purchasing the app.
Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast)
Jimmy Donaldson, known online as “MrBeast,” has led a group of investors that has made an offer of over $20 billion for TikTok. The online personality has made several TikTok videos about his desire to buy the app, with titles like “I’m Buying TikTok” and “New TikTok CEO?” On Jan. 22, Donaldson posted on X, “The leading groups who are all credible bidding on TikTok have reached out for us to help them, I’m excited to partner/make this a reality.”
Microsoft
Trump has also mentioned Microsoft, one of the world’s largest technology companies, is in discussions to acquire TikTok. Microsoft made a bid for the app in 2020, when talks of a ban first started, but was rejected. In January, a spokesperson for Microsoft said the company had “nothing to share at this time” in regard to a new bid to buy the app, according to the BBC, but Trump has been adamant that he would like to see a “bidding war” between Microsoft and other potential buyers.
Perplexity AI
The AI-powered search engine Perplexity AI has reportedly made a bid to merge with TikTok. The company ended 2024 with a value of over $9 billion after the “generative AI boom” that same year. Perplexity AI’s proposal, revised based on feedback from the Trump administration, would reportedly allow the U.S. government to own up to 50% of stake in the company.
Project Liberty
Project Liberty, an initiative founded by billionaire Frank McCourt, has been building a “People’s Bid for TikTok.” McCourt’s goal is to move TikTok’s millions of users to “healthier” online platforms. According to the Project Liberty website, McCourt says, “The foundation of our digital infrastructure is broken, and it’s time to fix it. We can, and must, do more to safeguard the health and well-being of our children, families, democracy, and society.”
Steve Mnuchin
Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has been discussing an investor group to buy TikTok since March 2024. Mnuchin, who served as treasury secretary under Trump in his first presidential term, has expressed concerns about Bytedance collecting U.S. user data. “There’s no way that the Chinese government would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China,” he said, according to CNN.
Oracle
Reportedly, the Trump administration’s plan to save TikTok involves tapping Oracle, a technology corporation that is known for its cloud applications, to take control of the app’s global operations. Bytedance would still own a minority stake in the company, but Oracle would oversee the app’s algorithm and data collection, the major concerns of U.S. officials. Oracle also tried to make a deal to acquire TikTok in 2020, but was unsuccessful.