President Donald Trump expressed his willingness to consider the possibility of Tesla CEO Elon Musk or Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison purchasing China’s TikTok during a press briefing on Tuesday, while Canadian investor Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary remains interested in a deal despite legal hurdles.
CNBC reports that during a press conference focused on announcing a joint venture for investing in AI infrastructure, President Donald Trump was asked about his stance on the potential acquisition of China’s TikTok by Elon Musk. In response, the President stated, “I would be if he wanted to buy it, yes,” adding, “I’d like Larry to buy it, too,” referring to Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison.
TikTok, currently owned by China’s ByteDance, finds itself in a precarious position in the United States following an executive order signed by Trump on Monday. The order aims to keep TikTok operational in the U.S. for an additional 75 days, effectively suspending a ban that came into effect after the Supreme Court upheld a national security law that would penalize app stores and service providers for hosting TikTok unless ByteDance sold the app. Analysts estimate the value of TikTok’s U.S. business at approximately $50 billion.
Canadian investor Kevin O’Leary, widely known from his role in ABC’s “Shark Tank,” expressed his interest in a TikTok deal but acknowledged that it’s not possible under current law. O’Leary, along with “The People’s Bid for TikTok,” an effort led by Project Liberty Founder Frank McCourt, had offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash to buy the platform. However, he noted that the proposed deal did not include ByteDance’s TikTok algorithm, a key point of scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers, and that his group had its own alternative.
“That 50/50 deal, I would love to work with Trump on, so would every other potential buyer … But the problem with some of these ideas is they are inconsistent with the ruling of the Supreme Court,” O’Leary said. He emphasized the need for Congress to open the order and provide for new options, as they are not currently provided for under the law.
President Trump emphasized the importance of TikTok obtaining a permit to operate in the U.S., stating that without it, the app would be “worthless,” but with a permit, its value could skyrocket to $1 trillion. He suggested that a potential buyer could “give half to the United States of America” in exchange for the necessary permits and approvals.
The President’s stance on TikTok has undergone a significant shift since his first term when he signed an executive order to ban the app. However, a federal court blocked his efforts, deeming them “arbitrary and capricious.” Trump’s opinion of TikTok began to change after meeting with billionaire Republican megadonor Jeff Yass in February, who is a major ByteDance investor and also holds a stake in the owner of Truth Social, Trump’s social media app.
Elon Musk, a top financial backer of Trump’s campaign and a potential influential figure in the administration, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter. Similarly, representatives from Oracle and TikTok have not provided an immediate response. ByteDance has not indicated whether it intends to sell TikTok, although reports suggest that the Chinese government has considered a plan involving Musk acquiring the app’s operations.
Legal experts who spoke to CNBC agreed that the legal status of TikTok and Trump’s executive order remained uncertain and that any efforts to make a deal for the platform could face challenges. Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, noted that a federal court could find the executive order violates the law and invalidate it, although such an action could take a long time if the government appealed to the Supreme Court.
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
