US President Donald Trump says he is open to the possibility of Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and microblogging platform X, purchasing TikTok.
TikTok was recently shut down in the United States following
a federal ban over national security concerns tied to its Chinese ownership.
The ban, which took effect on Sunday, temporarily forced
TikTok offline, leaving over 170 million US users without access to the
platform.
It also led to the app being removed from Apple and Google’s
digital stores in compliance with federal regulations.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order
delaying the enforcement of the ban by 75 days, allowing TikTok to resume
operations.
Addressing reporters after signing the order, Trump stated
that the US should receive 50 percent of any proceeds from the potential sale
of TikTok in a joint venture proposition.
“I have met with the owners of TikTok, the big owners. So,
what I am thinking about saying to somebody is ‘buy it and give half to the
United States of America,’” Trump said.
He further warned China against interfering in the sale,
labelling any obstruction as “hostile” and threatening tariffs of up to 100
percent.
Asked by a reporter during a press briefing about whether he
was open to Musk buying the platform, the president answered in the
affirmative, while also mentioning Larry Ellison, Oracle’s co-founder, as a
potential buyer.
“I would be, if he (Musk) wanted to buy it. I’d like Larry
to buy it, too,” Trump said.
“I have the right to make a deal. The deal I think is this.
TikTok is worthless if it doesn’t get a US permit. With a permit it’s worth
like a trillion dollars.
“So what I’m thinking about saying to somebody is ‘buy it
and give half to the United States of America and we’ll give you a permit and
you’ll have a great partner in the United States and they’ll have something
that is more valuable because they have the ultimate partner in the United
States.”
ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has not commented on
whether it plans to sell the platform’s US operations.
However, Bloomberg has reported that Chinese officials may
be considering a sale to Musk as a possible resolution of the impasse.
In November, Trump appointed Musk to head the Department Of
Government Efficiency (DOGE) in his administration.
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