Bloomberg: China is discussing selling TikTok to billionaire Elon Musk

On January 13, Bloomberg News reported that Chinese officials are discussing selling TikTok to “Tesla boss” Elon Musk.

A crowd of TikTok supporters hold up a "Keep TikTok" sign in front of the US Supreme Court during a hearing on January 10 - Photo: AFP

On January 13 (local time), Bloomberg News suddenly reported that Chinese officials are in preliminary negotiations on a potential plan to sell TikTok's US operations to billionaire Elon Musk, in case the platform loses its lawsuit in the Supreme Court and cannot avoid a ban.

Beijing officials still want TikTok to remain under the control of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, according to people familiar with the matter. The sources also envision a scenario in which Tesla CEO Elon Musk takes control of TikTok’s US operations and runs the social media platform alongside Chinese officials.

TikTok's US operations could be sold through a competitive process or through a government deal, the sources said. However, officials from both sides have yet to reach a consensus on the process and method for selling TikTok's US operations.

This also shows that the future of this application is no longer completely under the control of ByteDance.

According to the Guardian (UK), the Chinese government still holds a "golden stake" in ByteDance.

In response to this information, a TikTok spokesperson said they could not comment on the rumors but also called the information completely fictional.

In April 2024, US President Joe Biden signed a law requiring ByteDance to sell its TikTok operations in the US by January 19, otherwise the social network will be banned in the US.

The US Justice Department argues that TikTok poses a national security threat due to its ties to China and could be used for espionage purposes.

Both TikTok and ByteDance then filed a lawsuit on the grounds that the law violated the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects freedom of speech.

But during arguments on January 10, the Supreme Court weighed the free speech and national security implications of the foreign-owned social media platform, which has 170 million users in the United States.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bloomberg-trung-quoc-dang-thao-luan-ban-tiktok-cho-ti-phu-elon-musk-20250114134206829.htm