Chinese officials are considering selling the US unit of TikTok to Elon Musk if the company fails to prevent the app from being banned in the US, Bloomberg reports, citing its own sources.

It should be noted that Beijing is trying to keep TikTok under the ownership of its parent company ByteDance, which is challenging the ban in the US Supreme Court. However, during the hearing on January 10, the justices made it clear that they were likely to uphold the law. Against this backdrop, Chinese officials began discussing plans in the event of a ban, including the idea of transferring TikTok in the US under Musk's control.

  • Under one scenario, Musk's Platform X (formerly Twitter) would take control of TikTok US and merge the companies. This could strengthen X's advertising capabilities, given TikTok's more than 170 million users in the US.
  • The Chinese government is also attracted to a potentially high-profile deal with one of Trump's closest allies, who is expected to influence the decision to sell TikTok.
  • According to Bloomberg, no decision has been made and talks are still in the early stages. It is also unclear how much ByteDance is aware of the discussions within the Chinese government and whether there have been any talks between TikTok and Musk. A TikTok spokesperson told Variety that the information is pure fiction.
  • The Chinese government owns a so-called "golden share" in the ByteDance subsidiary, which gives it influence over the company's strategic decisions. However, China's export restrictions on technology, including TikTok's algorithm, could complicate any sale.
  • Musk himself has previously stated that he opposes a ban on TikTok in the US, citing freedom of speech.
  • TikTok's US unit is estimated to be worth $40-50 billion.

AIN reminds our readers that ByteDance previously preferred to shut down the app in the US rather than sell it to a potential American buyer. TikTok is also working on replicating its core recommendation algorithm for users in the US.

Last year, the US government passed a law requiring ByteDance to sell its popular video platform TikTok to avoid the ban. The law goes into effect on January 19, the day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The U.S. government says TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users, and is also a channel for spreading propaganda. China and ByteDance deny the allegations.