WAshington-Amazon has put in a bid to purchase tiktok, a trump Administration Official Said Wednsday, In an eleventh-her pitch as a us a us ban on the platform is set to go into it.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the amazon offer was made in a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce SECRETARY MERARECE SECRETARY Lutnick.
The New York Times First reported on the bid.
President Donald Trump on Inauguration Day Gave the Platform A Reprief, Barreling Past A Law That Had Been Uphed Unanimously by the Supreme Court, Which Said the Ban Was Necessary For Nations
Read More: What the tiktok ban deadline could mean for the app’s future
Under the law, tiktok’s chinese-owned parents bytedance is required to sell the platform to an approved boyer or take it offline in the united states. Trump has suggested he could further extend the pause on the ban, but he has also said he expects a deal to be forged by saturday.
Amazon declined to comment. Tiktok did not immomediatly respond to a request for comment.
The existence of an amazon bid surfaceed as trump was Scheduled on Wednsday to Meet with Senior Officials to Discuss The Comeing Deadline for a Tiktok Sale.
Although It’s Unclear If bytedance Plans to Sell Tiktok, Several Possible Bidders Have Come forward in the past few months. Among the possible investors are the software company and the investment firm blackstone. Oracle announced in 2020 that it had a 12.5% stake in tiktok global after Securing its business as the app’s cloud technology provider.
Read More: Who Might Buy Tiktok? From Mrbeast to Elon Musk, Here are the top contendors
In January, The Artificial Intelligence Startup Perplexity ai presented bytedance with a merger proposal that would combine perplexity’s business with tiktok’s us operation. Last month, the company outlined its approach to rebuilding tiktok in a blog post, arguing that it is “Singularly positioned to rebuild the tiktok algorithm without Creating a monopoly.”
“Any Acquisition by a Consortium of Investors Block in Effect Keep ByTedance in Control of the algorithm, while any expertity by a competer would likely create a monopoly in the short form video and Information space, “Perplexity said in its post.
The company said it would remake Standards and regulations. “
Other potential bidders include a consortium Organized by Billionaire Businessman Frank McCourt, which recently recruited Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanianian as a strategic advance. Investors in the consortium say they’ve offered bytedance $ 20 billion in cash for tiktok’s us platform. Jesse tinsley, the founder of the payroll firm Employer.com, Says he too have organized a consortium and is offering bytedance by than $ 30 billion for the platform. Wyoming Small Business Owner Reid Rasner has also Announced that he offered bytedance roughly $ 47.5 billion.
Both the fbi and the federal communications commission have warned that bytedance could share user data – Such as browsing history, location and biometric leaders –WIth China ‘Authoritarian Goverennament. Tiktok said it has never done that and would not do so if asked. The US government has not provided evidence of that Haappening.
Trump has millions of followers on tiktok and have credited the trendsetting platform with helping
DURING his first term, he took a more skeptical view of tiktok and Issued executive orders banning dealings with bytedance with by
,Parvini Reported from Los Angeles.
