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This illustration shows a 3D printed miniature model of US President-elect Donald Trump and Tiktok.
Date of Ruvik | Reuters
President Donald Trump wants an American investor to take a majority stake in Tiktok Bytedance. Multiple parties are being considered, even as potential buyers face a litany of legal hurdles and barriers.
After joining Restore Tiktok in US And delaying a law that would have effectively banned the app, Trump is looking for long-term prospects to keep the popular platform afloat.
He proposed an American bidder to buy the company and then sell 50% of the shares to the US government, which would jointly launch the application with a private party.
So who are the likely contenders for one of the most popular apps in the US?
Elon Musk
Trump has already identified several major investors in his inner circle as potential buyers, including Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk.
The world’s richest man heads the Trump administration’s new efficiency department, has close business ties to China and has voiced the opposition Before the Tiktok ban.
Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the Chinese government was considering a plan for Musk to acquire the US operations, citing anonymous sources. After Seeking Musk’s advice ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
CNBC was unable to reach Musk for comment.
“Elon Musk remains front and center as a potential bidder for Tiktok, likely to include some technology partners/outside investors to close the deal,” Wedbush noted in a research note on Wednesday.
“Musk would be hand-picked by Beijing, and his ironclad relationship with Trump would make him a very logical choice in our view,” the note added.
Nat Schindler, an analyst at Scotiabank, also noted that Musk’s acquisition of Twitter demonstrated its interest in global social media platforms. However, he also sees some potential obstacles for Tech Tycoon.
“Musk is already under fire for owning X and being perceived to be using it to promote certain political ideas, and any involvement with TikTok could attract additional fire and potentially antitrust scrutiny,” Schindler said.
Larry Ellison
Trump also said he “wanted to see” Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison to purchase the platform.
Alison, longtime Trump supporter, stood next to the president in press conference on him Investment in AI infrastructure Plans on Tuesday, where Trump was asked questions about a potential TikTok deal.
“What I’m thinking about telling somebody is to buy it and give half to the United States of America. Half and we’ll give you a permit,” Trump said, before turning to Ellison to ask if there was a sound the deal is reasonable.
“Sounds like a good deal to me, Mr. President,” Alison replied.
Alison and his company are currently at the center of the TikTok dilemma, which acts as a cloud infrastructure provider for Bytans in the US
Given its existing relationship with TikTok, Oracle is “directly investing in TikTok’s success in the region,” Shatsiabank’s Schindler said.
Alison suggested Tiktok along with Walmartback in 2020, when Trump first pushed for a ban on the platform. Neither company responded to CNBC’s request for comment.
Trump had approved in principle with a Walmart-Oracle deal that would see the technology and retail giants partner to take over the video-sharing app in the US, avoiding a shutdown. However, the Trump administration’s attempt to ban TikTok in the US ran into legal challenges.
Alison later joined the group of investors This helped Elon Musk buy social media platform Twitter, now known as X, in 2022.
“(We believe) Oracle/Ellison could play a key role in any deal given their key partnership with Tiktok and its appearance in the White House with Project Stargate,” Wedbush said.
Wedbush added that it expects more Tiktok applications to come from many of the weeks leading the pack in the coming weeks.
Big players, serious money
In addition to Musk and Ellison, experts identified several other parties that could be interested in a potential deal for TikTok, adding that the barriers to entry were high.
Given the financial stakes in the Tiktok deal, it’s unlikely some of Rogue’s investors are going to jump in and buy the platform on the cheap, Paul Triolo of the Albright Stone Group told CNBC.
“While Tiktok’s current valuation is hard to come up with, it’s probably on the order of $40-80 billion, meaning whoever decides to jump in should be ready with some serious cash,” he said.
He added that potential suitors are likely Meta and Googleexcept Musk X.
Meta and Google did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request.
Sarah Kreps, director of the Technology Policy Institute at Cornell University, warned that players like Meta, Google and Musk getting a significant stake in TikTok could raise antitrust regulatory questions.
Scotiabank analyst Nat Schindler noted that there are also a number of other players, including existing investors BlackTrash a large piece Tiktok’s parent company. According to him, some of these investors are likely to participate in any sale of the American platform by investing in the new entity.
“Other major VCs, hedge funds and asset managers from Tiger to Fidelity are also likely to show interest in a fast-growing global platform with such a huge viewer base to be a challenge.
Mrbeast
The upstart Tiktok Us purchase has also seen some non-traditional players enter the fray.
Social media superstar Mrbeast – real name Jimmy Donaldson – who has more than 100 million Tiktok followers, posted several videos in which he indicated serious interest in buying the platform, saying he had spoken to billionaires.
In one of the videos, an Internet person claimed that he had The official offer is readyJesting that he might become the new CEO of Tiktok.
Mass media Also mentioned were Donaldson and a group of investors preparing to make a bid for Tiktok.
On Thursday, Matthew Hiltzik, a spokesman for Donaldson, told CNBC that “several potential buyers are in discussions with Jimmy, but he does not have exclusive agreements with any.”
“People’s Application on Tiktok”
Led by Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt and featuring Canadian businessman and TV personality Kevin O’Leary, the Tiktok People’s Bid made a $20 billion cash offer to buy Tiktok.
O’Leary told CNBC last year that he wanted to Buy a platform at a discount Because any possible transaction will not include the original algorithm of Tiktok. The organization said it already has a replacement for the algorithm used for Tiktok Us
After Trump’s comments on the 50% stake in the platform, both McCourt and O’Leary told CNBC this week that they were interested in the Tiktok deal and hoped to work with Trump to make it happen.
McCourt also told CNBC that he wants Tiktok to launch a decentralized social networking protocol, or DSNP, overseen by the Liberty Project Institute, a nonprofit founded by the billionaire.
Interest aside, a number of legal and tech experts told CNBC that Trump’s executive order delays the TikTok ban, contradicting earlier ruling on the maintenance of the pafaka and may face legal opposition.
O’Leary also told CNBC on Monday that a deal with TikTok may not happen According to the current lawafter Protecting Americans from Controlled Foreign Adversaries Actor Pafaka, on Sunday.
Beijing and its anticipation of talks with Trump on trade with the US are expected to play a determining factor in whether the Chinese government will allow Beijing to make the divestment.
“In this high-stakes poker game between the Trump administration and Beijing, it’s clear that TikTok is a big chip on the table,” Vedush said
