What to know about Tiktok's uncertain future in the United States and the people who want to buy it

Tiktok, owned by the Chinese company Bytedonce, has been in the controversy center in the US for four years due to concerns about user data that can access the Chinese government. Earlier this year, the application experienced a temporary interruption in the US. Which left millions of users in suspense before it was quickly restored.

Tiktok returned to the App Store and Google Play Store in February.

However, Tiktok's future is still uncertain, and a possible second prohibition on April 5 is coming. Several investors are competing for the opportunity to buy the application, and if an agreement will be coming, the platform business in the United States could have its increase for rise $ 60 billionas estimated by the senior vice president of CFRA Research, Angelo Zino.

Tiktok Ban: what happened so far

To completely understand this high -risk drama, we will first visit the timultuous timeline of Tiktok's relationship with the United States government, which resulted in various battles and legal negotiations.

The drama began for the first time in August 2020, when Trump signed an executive order to prohibit transactions with the Bytedance matrix company.

A month later, the Trump administration sought to force a sale of American Tiktok operations to a company based in the United States. The main contestants included Microsoft, Oracle and Walmart. However, an American judge temporarily blocked Trump's executive order, allowing Tiktok to continue operating while the legal battle was developed.

Things began to progress further last year after the transition to the Biden administration. The United States House of Representatives, in an overwhelming vote of 360-58, approved the legislation against Tiktok. On April 23, 2024, the Senate approved the bill.

Shortly after, President Joe Biden signed the bill that required Tiktok to be sold or prohibited. In response, Tiktok sued the United States government, challenging the constitutionality of the prohibition and arguing that the application and its US users were violating their rights of the first amendment. The company has constantly denied that it represents a threat of security, stating that its data stored in the United States complies with all local laws.

Trump has a change of mind

On December 27, 2024, Trump opposite The possible prohibition of Tiktok in a judicial presentation, stating that he could find a way to maintain the application in the United States, this position was a marked contrast with his focus during his first presidency and presented a surprising turn of the events for Tiktok.

In January, the United States Supreme Court confirmed the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Law (Pafaca), commonly known as “Tiktok prohibition.” Tiktok made a formal announcement that he would probably have to get dark on January 19.

Tiktok closes … Then return online

Although Tiktok closed in the United States when the act came into force, it did not last long. The application returned in line less than 12 hours later. The platform said: “As a result of President Trump's efforts, Tiktok is back in the United States”

Where we are today

On January 20, Trump signed an executive order that postponed the prohibition of Tiktok for 75 days. This extension provides the application to sell a participation in the platform or reach an agreement with Trump. Its objective is to achieve a 50-50 property agreement between Bytedance and an American company.

More recently, at the beginning of March, Trump told reporters that his administration was in conversations with four different groups that are interested in buying the platform, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/trump-says-us-talking-four-different-groups-sale-tiktok-2025-03-10/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener nofollow”>By Reuters.

A definitive agreement for the sale of the platform has not yet been reached, but we could discover very soon.

Below is a list of investor groups and companies that are rumored that they are potential buyers of American Tiktok operations. (Surprisingly, Elon Musk is not among them).

People's offer for Tiktok

People's offer for Tiktok It is a consortium organized by the founder of the Liberty Project, Frank McCourt, who is also the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Guggenheim Securities investment firm and law firm Kirkland & Ellis are helping to gather the offer. The main mission of the people's commitment to acquire Tiktok is to prioritize privacy and data control, adopting an open source approach.

Involved supporters include:

• Alexis Ohanian: Reddit's co -founder is the The most recent Technological understanding to join the offer of the people, assuming the role of strategic advisor. He joined on March 3.

• Kevin O'Leary: A well -known investor and television personality that previously said Fox was willing to buy Tiktok for $ 20 billion. O'Leary united The people's offer on January 6.
• Tim Berners-Lee: The inventor of the World Wide Web admits the proposal because “users must have the ability to control their own data”, Berners-Lee saying In a statement.
• David Clark: Senior research scientist at the Laboratory of Computing Sciences and artificial intelligence of MIT, Clark has also been appointed participant.

US investors consortium

Jesse Tensley, CEO and founder of Employer.com, leads a consortium of US investors. Last month, Tensley announced a <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/JesseTinsley/status/1889314171696845284″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener nofollow”>$ 30 billion offer for all in cash to acquire American Tiktok operations.

• David Baszucki: Tensley told him Bloomberg That the co -founder and the CEO of Roblox is a participant.
• Nathan McCauley: It has been confirmed that the co -founder and CEO of crypto Platform Anchorage Digital participates in the consortium, Bloomberg reported.

Other interested parties

• amazon: The electronic commerce giant is the most recent company that is reported that it throws its hat into the ring.
• Bobby Kotick: The former Activision CEO is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/why-the-new-effort-to-ban-tiktok-caught-fire-with-lawmakers-7cd3f980?st=jnjw9hqtrb8mfct” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener nofollow”>reportedly Interested in buying Tiktok. With your experience by managing an important game company, your interest in the application could be driven by the potential to integrate games and social networks.
• Steven Mnuchin: The former Secretary of the United States Treasury, who served during President Trump's first term, They restarted discussions about the possible buytok purchase.
• Oracle: The company previously made an offer for Tiktok in 2020. In front of the White House in January, the co -founder of Oracle, Larry Ellison, told Trump that 50% property “It seemed like a good business. “The information informed in March is that Oracle is the best option to serve as a cloud technology partner to help Tiktok run in the United States.
• Walmart: The retail giant could also be looking at Tiktok to improve its scope in electronic commerce, especially taking into account the influence of the platform on consumer buying behavior. Walmart First expressed interest in 2020.
• Microsoft: The technological giant has previously shown interest in acquiring Tiktok, and Trump mentioned that the company has recently returned to the offer to buy the application.
• Rumble: The YouTube alternative <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/rumblevideo/status/1767539414618558661″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener nofollow”>announced in x who wants to acquire Tiktok and serve as his cloud technology partner.
• Perplexity ai: The start of the ai ​​search engine presented an offer last month, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/18/perplexity-ai-makes-a-bid-to-merge-with-tiktok-us.html” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener nofollow”>According to CNBC.

The story has been updated after the publication to include new interested parties.