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ORACLE and its technology chief Larry Ellison are said to be the leading bids to buy TikTok as users eagerly await an announcement by President Donald Trump.
The news could come at any minute as JD Vance insisted on Thursday that Trump is set to unveil a deal before the April 5 deadline.
TikTok’s future has been hanging in the balance since last April when former President Joe Biden demanded the app be sold.
If it isn’t, the popular social media platform is slated to be banned from the United States on April 5.
The looming ban stems from fears the Beijing-owned app poses a national security risk.
While still in office, Biden set a January 19 deadline but the ensuing ban only lasted 12 hours.
President Donald Trump ended up signing an executive order delaying the federal ban for an additional 75 days.
He tasked Vice President JD Vance with finding a buyer or majority investor to prevent the new ban from going into effect.
In an interview on Fox News on Thursday, Vance hinted the app’s future will be decided before the deadline.
When interviewer Lawrence Jones asked if the announcement would come sooner rather than later, Vance replied, “[The TikTok announcement will] come out before the [Saturday] deadline.”
The vice president is said to be talking with several private equity companies and venture capital funds to take over ByteDance’s ownership.
The database software company Oracle is rumored to be at the forefront of the White House-led deal, Investors reported.
Oracle will reportedly partner with private equity firm Blackstone and other current TikTok US investors to propose a plan to take over majority ownership of the app from TikTok’s Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance.
Larry Ellison, Oracle’s founder, has begged Trump for further announcements on data centers, CNN reported.
When the ban was first discussed in Trump’s first term as president in 2020, the company proposed a plan called Project Texas.
The plan aimed to solve the national security issue by requiring US data to be stored separately from ByteDance’s other data.
However, the plan eventually fell apart.
Before signing off on any deal to stop the TikTok ban, Trump needs to approve a company’s proposal, and China’s president, Xi Jinping, needs to agree.
Xi has been vocally opposed to forfeiting the app’s valuable algorithm, which curates content for individual users.
How would the TikTok ban work?
TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, has until April 5 to sell the beloved app or it’ll be banned over national security concerns.
In April 2024, President Joe Biden signed a law giving ByteDance 9 months to divest TikTok due to concerns the Chinese government could spy on Americans and manipulate content on TikTok.
After winning the election, President Donald Trump extended the sale deadline to April 5. Vice President JD Vance was tasked with coming up with a plan to save the app.
If ByteDance doesn’t sell TikTok to a government-approved buyer by that deadline, app stores will be forced to stop distributing or updating TikTok.
Companies like Apple and Google would be banned from helping to keep TikTok going, essentially forcing the app to die out.
While TikTok likely won’t be removed from phones, it’ll slowly degrade without any upkeep and eventually become unusable.
POTENTIAL BUYERS
A flurry of excitement came this week as Amazon announced a last-minute bid to save the app.
CNN’s sources said the company’s plan was proposed in a letter to Vance and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
However, those close to the subject say the vice president is not seriously considering Amazon’s offer.
Who is in the bid to purchase TikTok?
Several potential suitors have lined up in an attempt to buy TikTok, as the short-form video app faces a April 5 sale deadline.
Companies interested in TikTok:
- Amazon
- Microsoft
- Walmart
- Oracle
- Rumble
Entrepreneurs:
- X owner Elon Musk
- Shark Tank investor “Mr. Wonderful” Kevin O’Leary
- Tech businessman Jesse Tinsley
- Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt
- Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick
- OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely
Other rumored buyers include Elon Musk, Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, and Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary.
Tech startup leaders like OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely and Zoop co-founder RJ Phillips, along with the cryptocurrency foundation Hbar, are also in the running to buy the app.
“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,” Phillips told Reuters.
