The Chinese government is reportedly engaged in negotiations to transfer ownership of TikTok’s U.S. operations to billionaire Elon Musk.
As per a Bloomberg report, this option is being contemplated as a potential course of action should the U.S. Supreme Court affirm the legislation prohibiting the application on January 19.
Referring to sources familiar with the situation, Bloomberg indicated that Beijing officials strongly favor the retention of TikTok under the ownership of its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., which is actively challenging the impending ban through an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
However, the justices indicated during the proceedings on January 10 that they are inclined to uphold the law, a situation that has prompted senior Chinese officials to initiate contingency plans for TikTok as part of a broader dialogue on how to engage with Donald Trump’s administration.
Musk is a prominent financier of President Trump’s election campaign and is anticipated to have a significant influence within the forthcoming administration.
Should this scenario materialize, Musk’s X would obtain TikTok U.S., effectively integrating the vertical video platform’s 170 million American users and considerable potential advertising revenue.
Concurrently, the report suggests that it remains uncertain how much ByteDance and TikTok are aware of China’s discussions regarding a sale to Musk, potentially underscoring China’s alleged influence over the platform that led to the establishment of this law in the first instance.
