A deadline is approaching with the expiration of Trump's executive-order reprieve for TikTok, and several last-minute bidders have emerged.
Amazon became the most high-profile bidder for TikTok on Wednesday, via a letter sent to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, though the New York Times says that its sources close to the matter don't expect Amazon's bid to be taken seriously.
Amazon would likely love to leverage TikTok's popularity with influencers' already common habit of endorsing products on Amazon — which gives them a cut of every sale. And, as the Times notes, TikTok would take the place of Amazon's own failed social media attempt, called Inspire.
Reuters reports that another last-minute bid for the company has come in from OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely, via his startup Zoop (which is basically like G-rated OnlyFans), and the Hbar Foundation, which manages the Hedera cryptocurrency network's treasury.
"Our bid for TikTok isn't just about changing ownership, it's about creating a new paradigm where both creators and their communities benefit directly from the value they generate," said Zoop co-founder RJ Phillips in a statement to Reuters.
April 5 is the deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese owner, after President Trump responded to calls from TikTok users to "save" the app, which he temporarily did via executive order after taking office. A law passed by Congress last year, in the interest of national security, makes some sort of sale or banishment of TikTok inevitable, but how this takes shape remains to be seen.
The Times reports that a backroom deal has been taking shape involving private equity firm Blackstone and software company Oracle, who may be part of a consortium of investors that could become a new "owner" over TikTok. President Trump was reportedly meeting with White House officials to discuss such a deal today — though the legality of this remains murky.
Under the law, Chinese company ByteDance would have to sell off 80 percent of its interest in TikTok to American entities.
ByteDance, to date, has never expressed a willingness to make such a sale, and the company has said that the Chinese government would block it from happening anyway.
The Times separately reports that Trump may be looking to make a "media mogul" out of his longtime pal Larry Ellison, the 80-year-old co-founder of Oracle. Ellison has already used his vast wealth to invest in Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter three years ago, and he lately "appears to be planning to grow his corporate empire," the Times says.
Oracle previously had a bid in, alongside WalMart, to buy a minority stake in TikTok back in 2020, when a sale of the company's American business was first being discussed.
Previously: Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban
Photo: Andrew Stickelman
