China considers selling TikTok to Elon Musk

15 January 2025

Chinese officials are evaluating a potential sale of TikTok to Elon Musk, reports Bloomberg. Beijing prefers the US operations of the controversial app remain in the hands of ByteDance, but with the looming ban scheduled for January 19, officials are frantically looking for a resolution.

Sources who spoke with Bloomberg revealed Chinese officials are debating contingency plans for TikTok as part of an expansive discussion on how to work with President-elect Donald Trump. He is expected to appoint Elon Musk to his administration once he steps into the White House later this month.

One of the discussed scenarios includes Musk's X acquiring TikTok US and running the businesses together. The video app has more than 170 million users in the United States, and it could bolster X's attempt to appeal to advertisers. Musk also founded xAI, an artificial intelligence company that could benefit from the huge amount of data generated by TikTok.

ByteDance might not have a say in the final decision by the looks of it. Bloomberg also pointed out that it is unclear whether Musk, TikTok, ByteDance, and any government officials actually held any talks about such a deal.

Representatives of Musk did not respond to a request to comment. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun declined to comment, while a ByteDance representative said the company “can't be expected to comment on pure fiction.”

The Chinese government has control over ByteDance's operation through a so-called “golden share” in a company affiliate. Beijing's export rules prevent Chinese companies from selling their software algorithms, which is the most controversial part of TikTok.

The US operations of the platform are valued at around $40 billion.

The final decision remains an economic and geopolitical nightmare, given how hard it would be to split the US operations of TikTok. Donald Trump himself stated he wanted the ban to be postponed so he can participate in the negotiations for a potential solution for keeping the app alive.

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