China is looking at a potential option that involves selling TikTok’s operations in the US to tech-billionaire Elon Musk to keep the app from being effectively banned, Bloomberg News reported Monday.
Chinese officials prefer that TikTok remains under the ownership of parent ByteDance Ltd., Bloomberg said, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Last week, the US Supreme Court signaled that it will uphold a ban on TikTok by Jan. 19 — a day before President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office — over national security concerns about China.
According to Bloomberg, senior Chinese officials had already begun to debate contingency plans for TikTok as part of an expansive discussion on how to work with Trump’s administration.
Under one scenario, Musk’s social media platform X — formerly Twitter — would take control of TikTok US and run the businesses together, according to the report.
Officials have yet to reach a firm consensus on how to proceed, it said.
“It’s not clear how much ByteDance knows about the Chinese government discussions or whether TikTok and Musk have been involved. It’s also unclear whether Musk, TikTok, and ByteDance have held any talks about the terms of any possible deal,” the report added.
(TRT World)
