The future of the app is still very much up in the air.
Although TikTok may be back online, the app's future in the United States is still very much up in the air. The executive order issued by President Donald Trump that postponed the enforcement of the ban was simply a short-term relief for the corporation.
ByteDance used to be against the concept of selling TikTok's company in the United States, but that attitude appears to have shifted since Trump became president. According to one investor in ByteDance, making an agreement to maintain TikTok in the United States is "in everybody's interest." According to The Wall Street Journal, Chinese officials have also indicated that they are "open" to a deal.
TikTok has attracted the attention of a lot of individuals and businesses. Trump has stated that he would want to see a "bidding war" for the app and that the US government should have a share in the company. However, it is uncertain what a potential agreement might look like. These are the offers that we are aware of at the moment. The corporation was given 75 days to reach an arrangement as a result of Trump's executive order.
Oracle
According to a recent story from NPR, Oracle is collaborating with officials from the Trump administration to develop "a plan to save TikTok that involves tapping software company Oracle and a group of outside investors to effectively take control of the app's global operations." As part of this agreement, ByteDance would keep a small ownership share in the company, but Oracle would be in charge of the app's algorithm, data gathering, and software updates.
TikTok has an established partnership with Oracle, which is led by Larry Ellison, a friend of Donald Trump. The cloud provider is already responsible for hosting TikTok's user data in the United States, and it played an important role in the original discussions that allowed TikTok to continue operating in the United States under a scheme named Project Texas. (Those negotiations suddenly ended in 2022.)
In 2020, when Trump was president, he attempted to prohibit TikTok. At that time, he also approved a deal for Oracle and Walmart to purchase a 20 percent share in the app. That agreement never came to fruition. Trump's stance on Oracle is currently unknown. He informed reporters that Oracle was not one of the "many people" with whom he had talked about a transaction for TikTok. Ellison has been to the White House in the past several days, which is worth mentioning. He was present for the introduction of the Stargate Project, alongside Trump and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Microsoft
According to the same NPR story, Microsoft is also believed to be interested in becoming engaged in TikTok's future. The story reported that Microsoft was one of the "other potential investors" that were involved in the discussions with Oracle. This was apparently confirmed by Trump. Trump said "I would say yes" when he was asked this week if Microsoft was interested in purchasing TikTok.
Microsoft has tried to buy the social networking company before, just like Oracle has. In 2020, Microsoft was negotiating to purchase TikTok and assume control of its operations in the United States, but the agreement suddenly collapsed. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, later referred to it as "the strangest thing I've ever sort of worked on."
Perplexity AI (and maybe the United States government)
Perplexity AI made a proposal to ByteDance just before TikTok went offline for a short period of time. The arrangement would "create a new entity combining Perplexity, TikTok US and New Capital Partners."
Perplexity has allegedly made several changes to its proposal since that time. The Associated Press reports that the artificial intelligence corporation is now proposing a plan that would require the United States government to control half of the new structure after it makes an initial public offering of at least $300 billion. According to this agreement, ByteDance would retain a minority investment in the company and "would contribute TikTok's U.S. business without the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app."
MrBeast, a YouTuber whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, made a joke on X about purchasing TikTok before the initial suspension. He then stated that he had received offers from "so many billionaires" that he was going to make an attempt to actually go through with it.
At least one group has already confirmed his participation, along with other "high-net-worth individuals" who are interested in making a "all-cash offer." According to reports, that group is led by Jesse Tinsley, who is the creator of employer.com, and also includes David Baszucki, who is the CEO of Roblox. Bloomberg reports that they have collectively assembled "significantly" more than $20 billion for a proposal, but it is uncertain how seriously their offer is being taken. According to Bloomberg, there is also a chance that MrBeast will become involved with other offers.
Liberty Project
Project Liberty is another group of investors that has put out a proposal to purchase TikTok. Kevin O'Leary, who is well-known for his role on Shark Tank, is part of the group that is led by billionaire Frank McCourt. Before the ban went into effect, the group came forward. However, their current position is unclear.
O'Leary previously stated to CNBC that agreements that include a government investment might not be in accordance with the law. "I would love to work with Trump on that 50/50 deal, and so would every other potential buyer..." However, he stated that the issue with some of these concepts is that they do not align with the decision made by the Supreme Court. "I would love to make a deal if the law allowed it, but I can't afford to break the order of Congress."
He stated this week that the agreement "changes by the hour." He wrote on X, "It's clear to me now that we're going to have to do a dance between the original owners, the founders of ByteDance itself, and interpreting the law of what Congress and Supreme Court has upheld."
What do we do now?
So where does all this leave TikTok? At the moment, the company is still in the same uncertain situation it has been in since it was taken offline for a short period of time. The software is still not available in the Apple or Google app stores, and it may go down again if the company cannot strike an agreement.
However, it appears that both the government and ByteDance are more open to negotiation than they have been in the past. These are all the semi-credible ideas we are aware of at this time, but the situation is expected to evolve in the coming weeks as the different parties try to negotiate a solution that will work for everyone. This site will be updated as fresh information becomes available.
