Amazon Just Submitted a Bid to Buy TikTok, as AppLovin and Other Tech Companies Make Offers Before the Looming Deadline President Donald Trump wrote earlier this year that he wants the U.S. to have a 50% ownership stake in a joint venture to own TikTok.
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- Amazon and app development platform AppLovin are the latest to bid to buy TikTok.
- Other groups have submitted offers to acquire the app, including AI startup Perplexity.
Tech companies are rushing last-minute bids for TikTok as the April 5 deadline nears.
Amazon and app development company AppLovin both submitted bids for unspecified amounts to buy TikTok on Wednesday, days ahead of TikTok's Saturday deadline to separate from its Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance.
Amazon sent an offer letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to buy all of TikTok, but The New York Times reports that President Donald Trump's administration isn't seriously considering the bid.
AppLovin, a mobile tech platform that helps developers market and monetize apps, also submitted a bid and spoke to real estate billionaire Steve Wynn about funding it, per The Wall Street Journal. The company, which is valued at around $100 billion, pitched its offer to the Trump administration as a way to create jobs and address national security issues.
Related: You Can Download TikTok Again Through U.S. App Stores
According to The Journal, President Trump was briefed on Wednesday about a proposal to keep TikTok live in the U.S. The proposal involves cloud computing giant Oracle allying with asset manager Blackstone and other potential investors to make a joint bid on TikTok to ByteDance. Beijing officials will have to sign off on the deal and have indicated that they are open to it, per The Journal.
Trump acknowledged last week that the U.S. needed China's cooperation on any TikTok deal and said he would consider "a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done."
TikTok has received more than just Amazon and AppLovin's bids. Other groups have submitted formal offers to acquire the app, including billionaire and former L.A. Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, who teamed up with Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to submit a $20 billion bid in January. AI startup Perplexity also submitted a bid in the same month to merge its business with TikTok's U.S. division for more than $50 billion.
Congress passed a law in April 2024 called the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Lawmakers, concerned about U.S. user data making its way to the Chinese government and TikTok spreading Chinese propaganda to the American public, gave TikTok until January 19 to separate from ByteDance and be sold to a non-Chinese company or face a ban in U.S. app stores.
After failing to find a buyer, TikTok went dark on January 18 for 170 million U.S. users. The app quickly came back online the following day when Trump pledged to save the app. He then signed an executive order on January 20, extending the app's operations in the U.S. by 75 days and giving it more time to find a buyer.
Related: TikTok's Wild Weekend, Explained: From a Ban to an Executive Order, Here's What to Know.
Trump stated earlier this year in a post on Truth Social that he wants the U.S. to have a 50% ownership stake in a joint venture to own TikTok.
"By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up," Trump wrote ahead of his inauguration. "Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions."
