New York: Chinese authorities are exploring a possible sale of US TikTok operations to billionaire Elon Musk as the video-sharing platform faces a US law requiring the relocation of Chinese nationals. Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
The report, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, outlines a scenario being discussed in Beijing where Musk’s social media company X would buy TikTok from Chinese owner ByteDance and integrate it into the platform. Degi, which was previously called Twitter.
The report estimates TikTok’s US operations to be worth between $40 and $50 billion.
Although Musk is currently ranked as the world’s richest person, Bloomberg said it was unclear how Musk could make the transaction, or if he would need to sell other assets.
The US government passed a law last year requiring TikTok’s ByteDance to either sell the wildly popular platform or shut it down. It will go into effect on Sunday – the day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The US government alleges that TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users and is a tool for spreading propaganda. China and Byte Dance vehemently deny these claims.
TikTok has challenged the law, all the way to the US Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments on Friday.
At the hearing, a majority of conservative and liberal justices on the nine-judge bench appeared skeptical of TikTok’s lawyer’s arguments that the forced sale violated First Amendment free speech rights.
Bloomberg Beijing described consideration of a potential Musk transaction as “still preliminary,” noting that Chinese officials have yet to agree on how to proceed.
He said it was unclear how much Byte Dance knew about the Chinese government’s plans.
TikTok did not immediately respond. AFP Asked for comment, a representative told Variety: “We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction.”
Musk is a close associate of Trump who is expected to play an influential role in Washington over the next four years.
He also runs electric car company Tesla, which has a large factory in China and makes the country one of the automaker’s biggest markets.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose new tariffs on Chinese goods, expanding a trade war that began in his first term and was largely sustained, and in some cases by the outgoing president. He was complemented by Joe Biden.