Trump is looking for potential buyers of TikTok – who are the possible contenders?

President Donald Trump wants an American investor to take a major stake in ByteDance’s TikTok. Some parties are at odds even as potential buyers face a number of legal hurdles and hurdles.

After stepping in to restore TikTok in the US and delaying a law that would have effectively banned the app, Trump is looking for ways to keep the popular platform afloat.

He has put forward a proposal for a US interested party to buy the company and then sell a 50% stake to the US government, which will jointly run the application with the private party.

So who are the possible contenders for one of the most popular apps in the US?

Trump has already flagged several major investors within his inner circle as possible buyers, one of whom is Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk.

The world’s richest man heads Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, has close business ties to China and has voiced opposition to the TikTok ban.

Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the Chinese government was considering a plan for Musk to take over TikTok’s US operations, citing anonymous sources. This followed a report from the Wall Street Journal, which claimed that the TikTok CEO had sought advice from Musk before Trump’s inauguration.

CNBC was unable to reach Musk for comment.

“Elon Musk continues to be front and center as a potential bidder for TikTok, which will likely involve several outside technology partners/investors to strike a deal,” Wedbush said in a research note on Wednesday.

“Musk would be chosen by Beijing and his ironclad relationship with Trump would make this a very logical choice in our view,” the note added.

Nat Schindler, an analyst at Scotiabank, also noted that Musk’s purchase of Twitter has shown his interest in global social media platforms. However, he also sees some potential obstacles for the tech mogul.

“Musk is already under fire for owning X and the perception that he is using it to promote certain political ideas, and any involvement in TikTok could draw additional fire and potentially antitrust scrutiny,” Schindler said.

Trump has also said he would like to see The burden Chairman Larry Ellison bought the platform.

Ellison, a longtime Trump supporter, stood by the President at a news conference on his investment plans in AI infrastructure on Tuesday, where Trump fielded questions about a potential TikTok deal.

“What I’m thinking of saying to somebody is, buy it and give half to the United States of America. Half and we’ll give you the license,” Trump said before turning to Ellison to ask if the deal sounded good. reasonable.

“Sounds like a good deal to me Mr. President,” Ellison replied.

Ellison and his company are currently at the center of the TikTok dilemma, operating as a cloud infrastructure provider for ByteDance in the US

Given its existing relationship with Tiktok, Oracle is “directly invested in Tiktok’s success in the region,” said Scotiabank’s Schindler.

Ellison had bid for Tiktok, along with Walmartin 2020 when Trump first called for a platform ban. Neither company responded to CNBC’s request for comment.

Trump had approved in principle the Walmart-Oracle deal, which would have seen the tech and retail giants partner to take over the US video-sharing app, avoiding a shutdown. However, the Trump administration’s attempt to ban TikTok in the US failed in the face of legal challenges.

Ellison later joined a group of investors that helped Elon Musk buy social media platform Twitter, now known as X, in 2022.

“[We believe] Oracle/Ellison could play a key role in any deal given their key technology partnership with TikTok and its appearance at the White House with Project Stargate,” Wedbush said.

Wedbush added that it expects a flurry of TikTok deals to come in the coming weeks from a host of players with Musk and Ellison leading the pack.

In addition to Musk and Ellison, experts noted several other parties that could be interested in a potential deal for TikTok, adding that the barriers to entry were high.

Given the financial stakes of a TikTok deal, it’s unlikely that a rogue investor will swoop in and buy the platform on the cheap, Albright Stone Group’s Paul Triolo told CNBC.

“While an updated valuation on TikTok is hard to come by, it’s likely to reach $40-80 billion, meaning anyone who decides to jump in should be ready with some serious cash,” he said.

He added that potential suitors are likely to include some of America’s biggest social media and technology players, such as Meta AND Googleexcept for Musk’s X.

Meta and Google did not immediately respond to a CNBC inquiry.

Sarah Kreps, the director of the Technology Policy Institute at Cornell University, however, warned that players such as Meta, Google and Musk taking a significant stake in TikTok could raise antitrust questions.

Scotiabank analyst Nat Schindler noted that there were also a number of other players, including existing investors BlackRockCoatue and General Atlantic, which own a large portion of TikTok’s parent company. According to him, some of these investors are likely to participate in any sale of the American platform by investing in the new entity.

“Other major VCs, hedge funds and asset managers from Tiger to Fidelity are also likely to show interest in a fast-growing global platform with such a large viewer base,” Schindler said, adding that finding investors to own a piece of Tiktok will not be a problem.

The frenzy surrounding an acquisition of TikTok US has also seen some unconventional players enter the fray.

Social media superstar MrBeast – real name Jimmy Donaldson – who has more than 100 million TikTok followers, has posted several videos in which he has shown serious interest in buying the platform, claiming to have held talks with billionaires.

In a video, the internet personality claimed to have an official offer ready, teasing that he could be the new CEO of TikTok.

Media reports have also mentioned Donaldson and a group of investors preparing to make a bid for TikTok.

On Thursday, Matthew Hiltzik, a spokesman for Donaldson, told CNBC that “Several potential buyers are in ongoing discussions with Jimmy, but he does not have an exclusive agreement with any of them.”

Led by Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt and including Canadian businessman and TV personality Kevin O’Leary, the People’s Bid for TikTok has made a $20 billion cash offer to buy TikTok.

O’Leary told CNBC last year that he wanted to buy the platform at a discount since any potential deal would not include TikTok’s original algorithm. The organization said it already has a replacement for the algorithm to be used for TikTok US

Following Trump’s comments about a 50% stake in the platform, both McCourt and O’Leary told CNBC this week that they were interested in a TikTok deal and hoped to work with Trump to make it happen.

McCourt has also told CNBC that he wants TikTok to run a decentralized social networking protocol, or DSNP, overseen by the Project Liberty Institute, a nonprofit founded by the billionaire.

Bid interest aside, a number of legal and technology experts have told CNBC that Trump’s executive order to delay TikTok’s ban conflicts with the Supreme Court’s earlier decision to uphold PAFACA and could face legal challenge. .

O’Leary also told CNBC on Monday that a TikTok deal could not happen under current law, after the Supreme Court upheld an impending ban on TikTok under the Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act, or PAFACA. on sunday.

Beijing and its pending negotiations with Trump over trade with the US are also expected to play a determining factor in whether the Chinese government will allow ByteDance to make a sale.

“In this high-stakes poker game between the Trump administration and Beijing, it’s clear that TikTok is a big chip on the table,” Wedush said.