The deadline for TikTok to find a new owner is right around the corner, meaning our favourite doomscrolling app should (hopefully) announce some big changes over the weekend — that is, if it doesn’t want to face a potential shutdown in the US.
Earlier this year, the video app faced a US ban on national security grounds. But it’s been lurking for a while. US President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok back in 2020 if TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance didn’t divest ownership and in 2024, Congress passed legislation requiring ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban.
But earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order delaying the ban by 75 days. It meant ByteDance was given additional time to reach an agreement to sell its controlling interest.
That deadline of April 5 has come around quickly. And TBH, we’re yet to hear anything more than rumours about who TikTok’s new owner could be.
On Monday, Trump told reporters that a deal to sell the app would be struck before the deadline and that he’d “like to see TikTok remain alive”.
“We have a lot of potential buyers. There’s tremendous interest in TikTok,” he said, per Variety.
“The decision is gonna be my decision.”
A White House official also confirmed the president will meet with his cabinet — including Vice President JD Vance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — to consider any TikTok deal, as reported by Reuters.
So, with TikTok potentially in for some pretty big changes, we’ve done some digging into who might’ve made the shortlist.
MrBeast
You read that right! In January, 26-year-old YouTube star MrBeast AKA Jimmy Donaldson seemed to throw his hat in the ring to buy TikTok’s US operations, teaming up with tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley.
He floated his interest on X (formerly Twitter), writing on 13 January that he’ll “buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned”.
He followed this with a TikTok video where he claimed he’s been in chats with a “bunch of billionaires” about a bid.
Elon Musk
With Elon Musk worming his way into Trump’s administration in every conceivable way possible, it’s not outside the realm of possibility the world’s richest man will say fuck it and buy TikTok, too. (Although based on his handling of Twitter, now X, TikTok fans would be advised not to root for it.)
Granted, Musk has said he has no intention of placing a bid. “I don’t have any plans for what I would do if I had TikTok,” he said back in February, adding that his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, now X, was unusual. (The US Securities & Exchange Commission is still continuing its $150 million lawsuit against Musk over allegedly misleading investors when he bought millions of dollars in Twitter stock in 2022.)
However, an entire month has passed since then. Who knows what’s going on in Musk’s brain now?
Kevin O’Leary
Billionaire Kevin O’Leary — yup, that one from Shark Tank — has previously said he’d be keen for a deal to take a 50 per cent in TikTok.
He’s even committed to a bid for TikTok by Project Liberty, an organisation formed by former LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt that intends to construct “a new internet infrastructure”. The bid also includes another big name, Reddit co-founder (and Serena Williams’ partner) Alexis Ohanian.
Big tech companies
Given the pretty lucrative opportunity to own a video app used by over 170 million US users, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for the big technology giants to get involved.
In January, Trump said Microsoft was in discussions to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a “bidding war” over the sale of the social media app, as reported by the BBC.
AI startup Perplexity has also proposed a bid for acquiring (and transforming) TikTok, according to a company blog post in March.
Private equity firms
Could an investment firm be its next owner? Potentially, according to multiple media reports, which suggest ByteDance could retain some stake in TikTok by investing along with a bunch of big-name investors like Susquehanna and General Atlantic. According to ByteDance, over half (60 per cent) of its ownership is already owned by “global institutional investors” like this. And per the new US law, it is banned from directly or indirectly owning more than 20 per cent of TikTok.
Blackstone — which is one of the world’s largest investments with over US$1 trillion in total assets under management — is believed to be mulling a stake, sources told the New York Times.
A number of news outlets have also reported that TikTok’s current US technology partner Oracle might be a top contender to buy its US operations. But, there’s some murkiness around whether this could legally meet the requirements of the law.
What happens if there’s no TikTok deal by the deadline?
Good question! This remains the tricky bit, because on one hand, the original ban legislated by Congress and signed by former US President Joe Biden could come into effect, meaning it’s bye bye TikTok in the US, although it won’t impact Australian users.
With the ban, this would mean the app would be removed from stores and anyone providing access would be penalised.
On the other hand, Trump’s suggested he may just extend the deadline again and he can do so for up to 90 days under US law.
We’ll keep you updated as we get close to the deadline.
Lead image: Getty
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