Musk, MrBeast, Larry Ellison – Who Can Buy TikTok?

Jimmy Donaldson – aka MrBeast – he exulted as he told his tens of millions of followers on TikTok about his offer to buy the platform.

“I could be your new CEO! I’m super excited!” Donaldson said from a private jet. He then proceeded to promise $10,000 to five random new followers.

The internet creator’s post has been viewed more than 73 million times since Monday. Donaldson said he couldn’t share details about his bid, but promised, “Just know, it’s going to be crazy.”

Donaldson is one of a number of suitors who have expressed interest in buying TikTok, the wildly popular social media platform that has become the subject of a fast-moving political drama in the United States.

Last year, then-President Joe Biden signed a law that gave TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance until January 19 to sell the platform or face a ban in the United States.

The legislation addresses concerns about TikTok’s ties to the Chinese government and concerns that the app poses a national security risk.

President Donald Trump floated the possibility of a joint venture.

“I would like the United States to have 50% ownership,” he said in a Truth Social post on Sunday. “By doing this, we’re saving TikTok, keeping it in good hands and allowing it to (remain active).”

Trump has since signed an executive order allowing the app to remain operational for another 75 days.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported to which China was considering selling TikTok Elon Muskthe world’s richest man and a close ally of President Trump, who already owns the social media platform X.

Musk himself wrote to X this week that while he has long opposed the TikTok ban, “the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America but X is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced. Something has to change.”

At a news conference on Tuesday, Trump was asked by a reporter if Musk would be willing to buy the platform.

“I would be if he wanted to buy it, yes,” the president replied.

“And I would like Larry to buy it,” Trump added, referring to the Oracle chairman Larry Ellisona longtime Trump supporter who was on stage with him for a separate announcement.

Oracle is one of TikTok’s main server providers, management many of the data centers where the platform’s billions of videos are stored.

Last year, Oracle warned that banning TikTok could hurt their business. The cloud computing giant was also a leading contender to buy the social media platform in 2020 when Trump was trying to ban it.

Billionaire investor Frank McCourt has also expressed interest in TikTok and has been giving media interviews about the prospect for several months.

McCourt said he wants TikTok to work with technology overseen by the Project Liberty Institute, which he founded. He was critical of the data collection practices of social media companies.

Project Liberty is bidding on TikTok without its own algorithm. McCourt said CNBC said this week that Project Liberty “doesn’t care about the algorithm or the Chinese technology,” though he acknowledged that the platform is “worth less” without it.

Ultimately, President Trump will likely have a major role in choosing an American buyer for TikTok.

“It will be a winner who is likely to be politically sympathetic to President Donald Trump,” said Anupam Chander, a law professor at Georgetown University.

Prof. Chander said the 50-50 co-ownership model does not meet the requirements of the law, which could prompt Trump to pressure Congress to revise the law.

For now, the future of the platform remains unknown.

Prof. Chander said the Biden administration made an “unforced error” by allowing the law to give the president too much control over who owns TikTok.

“It was a terrible idea to put the future of a massive information platform in this political maelstrom,” said Prof. Chander.