Elon Musk the TikTok owner? Chinese government officials are reportedly discussing the possible sale of the app’s U.S. operations to the billionaire. Photo Credit: Jonathan Kemper
Will TikTok sell to Elon Musk in the U.S.? The possibility is on the table, according to multiple reports surfacing ahead of the platform’s January 19th divestment deadline.
Rumblings of that comparatively seldom-discussed outcome just recently entered the media spotlight, including in a Wall Street Journal report.
As most know, absent a once-off 90-day extension from President Biden or a court order blocking the same sale deadline, TikTok will be compelled to sell or effectively shut down in the States this coming Sunday.
Unsurprisingly, TikTok and ByteDance have long pushed back against the prospect of a sale. But as their multifaceted opposition (encompassing public-opinion campaigns, legal actions, and more) has failed to halt the ban law, a divestment from TikTok in the U.S. is perhaps closer than ever to becoming reality.
Of course, as the Supreme Court must still rule on whether this law can stand – justices look to be leaning towards leaving the measure in place, and a decision might arrive tomorrow – ByteDance and TikTok can’t very well come out and confirm as much at the moment.
Nevertheless, the companies have already received at least one formal bid, and Chinese government officials are reportedly weighing selling the video-sharing platform’s U.S. operations to the “trusted” Musk.
That’s according to the Journal, which specifically identified unnamed officials’ preliminary talks about allowing for TikTok’s sale to the billionaire. (Tesla operates a factory in Shanghai, and the paper further reiterated Musk’s seemingly positive relationship with the nation’s leadership.)
It may be a given that the Chinese government would need to approve any deal for the app, but the point is particularly relevant because Beijing actually owns a piece of ByteDance.
The Journal also acknowledged that it hadn’t determined “whether the Chinese officials had presented the Musk idea to top leadership.”
Following that detail to its logical conclusion, the X owner Musk, who doesn’t appear to have commented publicly on the matter, presumably has yet to explore related discussions with the “top leadership.”
However, the option could make strategic sense for Musk, whose mentioned social platform shut down Vine back in 2017.
On the other side of the coin, as The People’s Bid for TikTok partner Kevin O’Leary sees it, Musk will probably forgo pursuing the expensive deal due to the accompanying regulatory scrutiny.
“I think Elon Musk buying TikTok is unlikely,” O’Leary weighed in on X. “The regulators hate monopolies, and Trump’s not letting go of this golden bargaining chip. Musk is a brilliant entrepreneur, no question, but even with his track record, this one’s a long shot.”
Admittedly, the veteran businessman, whose People’s Bid has submitted a TikTok buyout offer to ByteDance, isn’t exactly impartial here. But regulatory considerations are worth keeping in mind – as is TikTok’s initial opposition to the reported Musk sale plan.
To be sure, a rep for the company promptly described the rumor as “pure fiction,” per Fortune. Meanwhile, ban or no ban, TikTok is continuing to spearhead promotional initiatives in the U.S. and especially in different nations.
