China is reportedly considering asking Elon Musk to be its white knight as it increasingly appears that TikTok will be banned from the U.S. That could be a costly — but potentially worthwhile — play for Musk’s own social media platform.
Although Chinese officials would prefer that TikTok remains entirely under owner ByteDance’s control, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday hinted it would likely uphold the law enforcing the potential ban. It requires that TikTok’s U.S. operations be sold to a U.S. buyer by Jan. 19.
Bloomberg News, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, reports that Beijing has tossed Musk’s name in the ring as part of its contingency discussions, forecasting a scenario that could see TikTok run as part of Musk’s X. TikTok’s more than 170 million U.S. users could bolster X’s advertising efforts, while Musk’s xAI startup could use TikTok’s data to train its artificial intelligence.
According to Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, a purchase would likely cost Musk between $40 billion and $50 billion. That price doesn’t include ByteDance’s algorithm for the video-sharing platform, which the company would likely refuse to give up.
“This would significantly enhance the value of Twitter/X platform and likely Musk would take outside investments for this potential golden asset pickup,” Ives wrote in a note Tuesday. “It’s also possible that instead of an outright sale this results in a joint partnership with Musk playing a major role and helping avoid a true ban of TikTok in the US.”
Part of Musk’s appeal as a potential buyer is his close ties to President-elect Donald Trump and his upcoming administration. Musk spent more than $250 million supporting Trump’s election, has been given a task force taking aim at government inefficiency, and several of his allies have been tapped for new government jobs.
He has also showed some support for TikTok remaining available in the U.S. Last April, he said that a ban “would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression” and “not what America stands for.”
Trump, who first proposed a ban on TikTok in 2020 before announcing a sudden change of heart in March, could issue a 90-day pause on the ban if the Supreme Court approves it. He could also ask the Justice Department and attorney general not to enforce the TikTok ban.
“Given the strong and growing alliance between Trump and Musk this is not a total shock route as behind the scenes the Trump White House is looking at alternatives if the Supreme Court upholds the ban,” Ives wrote.
Besides Musk, few alternative potential partners have emerged, including a consortium that includes billionaire Frank McCourt and “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary. Last May, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was interested in buying TikTok’s U.S. portion.
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