14/1/2025–|Last updated: 1/14/202512:37 AM (Mecca time)
Chinese officials are considering a possible option that includes Elon Musk’s acquisition of TikTok’s operations in the United States if the company fails to push back against the controversial ban on the application of short video clips, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed informed sources.
According to the sources, Beijing officials strongly prefer that TikTok remain under the ownership of parent company ByteDance Ltd., and the company is appealing the imminent ban with an appeal to the US Supreme Court, but the judges indicated during the arguments on January 10 that they are likely to support the law.
Emergency plans
Bloomberg quoted unidentified sources as saying that senior Chinese officials have begun discussing contingency plans for TikTok as part of an expanded discussion on how to work with the incoming Donald Trump administration, one of which includes Elon Musk.
They added that a potential high-profile deal with one of Trump’s closest allies holds some appeal for the Chinese government, which is expected to be decided on whether TikTok will eventually be sold.
Under one scenario discussed by the Chinese government, Musk’s company X (formerly Twitter) would take control of TikTok America and manage the businesses of the two apps together, the people said.
With more than 170 million users in the United States, TikTok could boost X’s efforts to attract advertisers, and Musk has also founded a separate artificial intelligence company, XAI, which could leverage the vast amounts of data through TikTok.
The sources said that Chinese officials have not yet reached any consensus on how to proceed and their discussions are still preliminary. It is not clear to what extent ByteDance knows about the Chinese government’s discussions or whether TikTok and Elon Musk are involved in the discussions. It is also unclear. Whether Musk, TikTok and ByteDance have had any talks about the terms of any potential deal remains unclear, according to Bloomberg.
Difficult negotiations
Musk posted last April that he believed TikTok should remain available in the United States, and wrote on his account on the X platform: “In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the United States, although such a ban may benefit the platform.” X: Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. This is not what America stands for.”
According to the sources, discussions in Beijing indicate that the fate of TikTok may no longer be under the control of ByteDance alone, and Chinese officials admit that they will face difficult negotiations with the Trump administration regarding tariffs, export controls, and other issues, and they see the TikTok negotiations as a potential area for reconciliation. As they say.
The Chinese government owns the so-called golden share in a subsidiary of ByteDance, which gives it influence over the company’s strategy and operations, and TikTok confirms that control applies only to the China-based Douyin Information Service company, and has no influence on ByteDance’s operations outside the country. China, however, Beijing’s export rules prevent Chinese companies from selling its software algorithms, such as those underlying TikTok, and because the Chinese government must approve the sale, it has an important voice in any potential deal.
The value of TikTok’s operations in the United States is estimated at between $40 billion and $50 billion, according to what Bloomberg Research analysts Mandeep Singh and Demian Reimertz said last year, and this is a large amount even for Elon Musk, the richest person in the world according to the American Forbes and Bloomberg lists. It is not clear how such a deal could be completed, whether it would require the sale of other properties, or whether the US government would approve.
It is noteworthy that Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, and is still repaying large loans.
