WASHINGTON (AP) — A bid from Amazon to acquire TikTok has been reported, according to a Trump administration insider who spoke Wednesday, as a U.S. ban on the app is set to take effect on Saturday.
The source, who preferred to remain unnamed due to a lack of authorization for public comments, indicated that the offer from Amazon was conveyed in a letter addressed to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The New York Times was the first to disclose the offer.
On Inauguration Day, President Donald Trump granted the platform temporary relief, disregarding a law that had been unanimously supported by the Supreme Court, which deemed the ban essential for national security.
Trending on Billboard
According to the law, TikTok’s parent company, the China-based ByteDance, must divest the platform to an authorized purchaser or shut it down in the United States. Trump has indicated he might extend the suspension of the ban, though he anticipates a deal will be reached by Saturday.
Amazon opted to withhold comments, and TikTok was unavailable for immediate reactions to the inquiry.
The emergence of Amazon’s offer coincided with Trump’s scheduled meeting on Wednesday with high-ranking officials to deliberate on the looming deadline for a TikTok sale.
While ByteDance’s intentions to sell TikTok remain uncertain, multiple potential bidders have surfaced over the preceding months. Key contenders include the software giant Oracle and the investment firm Blackstone. In 2020, Oracle declared it had acquired a 12.5% stake in TikTok Global upon becoming the application’s cloud technology provider.
In January, the AI startup Perplexity AI contacted ByteDance with a proposal for a merger that would integrate Perplexity’s operations with TikTok’s U.S. sector. Last month, the firm elaborated on its strategy to revitalize TikTok in a blog entry, asserting that it is “uniquely capable of reconstructing the TikTok algorithm without forming a monopoly.”
“Any merger involving a group of investors could effectively keep ByteDance in control of the algorithm, while any acquisition by a competitor would likely lead to a monopoly in the short-form video and information domain,” stated Perplexity in its blog.
The company expressed intentions to redesign the TikTok algorithm and guarantee that infrastructure would be developed and managed in “American data centers with American oversight, ensuring compliance with domestic privacy norms and regulations.”
Additional prospective bidders include a consortium led by billionaire entrepreneur Frank McCourt, who has recently enlisted Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian as a strategic advisor. Investors associated with the consortium claim they have presented ByteDance with a $20 billion cash offer for TikTok’s U.S. operations. Jesse Tinsley, the founder of the payroll company Employer.com, mentioned he has also formed a consortium and is proposing over $30 billion for the platform. Wyoming entrepreneur Reid Rasner has disclosed that he has made an offer of approximately $47.5 billion to ByteDance.
Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have cautioned that ByteDance may share user information — including browsing history, location, and biometric data — with the authoritarian regime in China. TikTok asserts that it has never engaged in such actions and would not comply if requested. The U.S. government has not substantiated any claims of such instances.
Trump has amassed millions of followers on TikTok and credited the platform with boosting his appeal among younger voters.
During his initial term, he approached TikTok with skepticism and enacted executive orders prohibiting transactions with ByteDance and the proprietors of the Chinese messaging service WeChat.
This article was initially published by The Associated Press.
- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
