Internet Musk: No offer submitted for Tiktok
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is taking the wind out of the sails of speculation that he could buy Tiktok's US business. He had not submitted an offer for Tiktok, Musk said in a Q&A session at the "Welt" business summit.
09.02.2025, 07:07
SDA
The comments were made on January 28, but were only published by the daily newspaper at the weekend. A week earlier, US President Donald Trump had said in response to a journalist's question that he would be open to Musk buying the video app. This was triggered by media reports that the Chinese government was considering the option of selling Tiktok to Musk. Tesla, the electric car manufacturer led by Musk, has a large factory in Shanghai and is heavily reliant on the Chinese market.
The clock is ticking for Tiktok
Time is running out for Tiktok in the USA. A law passed last year stipulated that the China-based Tiktok owner Bytedance had to divest itself of Tiktok by January 19 in order for the app to remain available in the US. Trump postponed the deadline by 75 days after taking office - but also insisted that the service must come under American control. In the meantime, he had said that "the USA" should get a 50 percent share.
In the US, there are warnings that the Chinese government could use Tiktok to collect information about American users and influence public opinion. Tiktok rejects this.
Musk: "No plans"
Musk also said at the World Economic Summit: "I have no plans for what I would do if I had Tiktok." He would probably look at the app's algorithm to decide how harmful or useful it is and how it could be changed so that it would be "more beneficial to humanity". Musk bought the short messaging service Twitter more than two years ago and turned it into the online platform X. One of the changes he made was to soften the rules for permitted content.
He himself does not use Tiktok, Musk said. The Tiktok algorithm is the software that decides which videos users are shown next. Among other things, it learns how much time they spend watching the clips in order to select similar posts.
Newspaper: Amazon and Microsoft are interested
Meanwhile, according to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft, Amazon and the software group Oracle are among those interested in Tiktok or the app's US business. Meanwhile, Tiktok is trying to convince Washington of the merits of a joint venture with US investors instead of a sale, according to sources close to the matter.
The proposal revolves around "Project Texas", a plan that has been running for years to store the data of US users in the USA and to set up protective measures against misuse. The promises were not enough for Trump's predecessor Joe Biden's administration.
The joint venture envisaged by Tiktok should be based in the USA and the majority of the board of directors should come from the American side.
How Chinese is Bytedance?
Bytedance often points out that 60 percent of the group is owned by international investors. This includes the financial firm Susquehanna, owned by major Republican donor Jeff Yass. However, US critics counter that Bytedance could be obliged to cooperate with Chinese authorities regardless of this because of its headquarters in Beijing. In addition, according to media reports, Chinese Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming holds shares with more voting rights, which give him control over the company.
The Chinese government is also standing in the way of a sale of Tiktok. Algorithms based in China - such as Tiktok's - can only be sold with its approval.
Bytedance and Tiktok categorically reject a spin-off of the video app's US business. They argue that this would divide the platform.
