Tiktok, a popular video sharing app with more than 170 million U.S. users, faces an imminent threat from U.S. laws passed last year, requiring Tiktok to contact Chinese owners, Bytedance, or in the U.S., to be banned from contacting Chinese owners.
On Thursday, April 3, U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration was “very close to a deal looking for buyers for Tiktok, adding that the deal involved “multiple” investors, although he did not provide more details.
The law came into effect on January 19, just the day before Trump’s inauguration, was ultimately controlled by the Chinese government.
In the hours leading up to the deadline, Tiktok temporarily closed in the U.S. and disappeared from the app store, causing frustration from millions of users. But Trump quickly announced a 75-day delay, with Tiktok being restored to existing users and returning to Apple and Google App Stores in February.
The delay will expire at midnight on April 5 (0400 GMT), but Trump downplayed the risks and expressed confidence in ensuring buyers secure their buyers for Tiktok’s U.S. business. The president also suggested that Tiktok could become part of a broader deal with China, aiming to address the tariffs he imposed on Beijing as part of the global trade outbreak.
When asked if he would like to make a deal on the tariff, Trump said: “Just as long as they give us some good stuff. For example, with Tiktok.” He further noted: “We have a situation with Tiktok, and China might say we will approve a deal, but you will do something with the tariff. The tariffs give us strong negotiating capabilities.”
The report shows that the most likely solution will involve existing U.S. investors, selling them dangerously into a newly independent global Tiktok company. Other investors, including Oracle and private equity firm Blackstone, will be brought to reduce the share of the beast. Tiktok’s U.S. business has been placed on Oracle servers, and Oracle chairman Larry Ellison is a long-time Trump ally.
Nevertheless, uncertainty about the future of the Tiktok algorithm is crucial to its success. “Tiktok without its algorithm is like Harry Potter without a wand, it is simply not as powerful,” said Kelsey Chickering, chief analyst at Forrester. She added: “If Tiktok experiences a decrease, users, creators and advertisers will spend more time and money on other media channels.”
The New York Times recommends that new companies can license the algorithm from BOCTEDANCE. However, such an arrangement could undermine the premise of the law, which is partly based on concerns that Tiktok’s algorithm could be a weapon of the Chinese government’s protest against U.S. interests.
Amazon reportedly made a last-minute bid to acquire Tiktok in the last few days before the deadline, while other proposals emerged, including “people’s bid for Tiktok,” by real estate and sports tycoon Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty Initiative. Confusion about AI entrepreneurship and bids involving YouTube celebrity MRBEAST and adult-only content platforms also expressed interest in getting the app.
Trump, who supported the ban in his first term, recently took a more favorable stance against Tiktok, viewed it as a factor in gaining support from young voters in the November election. Additionally, billionaire Jeff Yass, one of Trump’s major political donors, is a key stakeholder in Bondedance, the parent company of Tiktok.
