New Contender Emerges In Race To Purchase TikTok

The deadline for China’s ByteDance to divest its U.S. TikTok operations is quickly approaching.

According to reports, Amazon has made a last-minute bid for the popular social media app.

JUST IN: Amazon in talks to buy TikTok. pic.twitter.com/HBGh1JCWEL

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) April 2, 2025

NBC News reports:

The bid, first reported by The New York Times, arrived this week, via a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Given the last-minute timing, days before a Saturday deadline to stave off a ban of the app in the U.S., the bid is not being treated as serious, said the source, who was granted anonymity to share details of private negotiations.

A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment. A representative for Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Donald Trump was expected to weigh TikTok offers Wednesday during an Oval Office meeting with Vance, Lutnick and other high-ranking administration officials. Trump has tapped Vance and national security adviser Michael Waltz to lead the effort to resolve TikTok’s fate.

Breaking News: Amazon made a last-minute bid to acquire all of TikTok as the app approaches an April deadline to be sold by its Chinese owner or face a ban in the U.S., people familiar with the offer said. https://t.co/SzzKYVA1lq

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 2, 2025

Amazon makes last-minute bid to buy TikTok ahead of Trump’s April 5 deadline for a forced US sale.

Trump is set to review final TikTok proposals on Wednesday.

Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/c4id3L1rUs

— AF Post (@AFpost) April 2, 2025

Per Investor’s Business Daily:

TikTok is available for American users under a temporary reprieve from a 2024 law that bans the short-video app unless the China-based ByteDance divests ownership. Trump delayed enforcement of the ban for 75 days on his first day in office, Jan. 20, allowing TikTok to restart operations for its more than 170 million U.S. users after a brief shutdown.

Oracle (ORCL) has been seen by Wall Street analysts as the likely favorite to take over TikTok’s U.S. operations, with backing from new and existing U.S. investors.

Amazon sent a letter expressing interest in TikTok in a recent letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to the New York Times. The parties involved in TikTok’s negotiations “do not appear to be taking Amazon’s bid seriously,” the report said.

Amazon stock was up 1.6% at 195.27 on the stock market today. Shares pushed higher following the New York Times report. Amazon stock has been slumping since early February.

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TikTok operates an e-commerce platform that relies on its short-video app to power sales. Amazon would “make strategic sense” as a TikTok buyer given the strong ties between social media and online shopping, Morgan Stanley analysts argued late last year. Amazon has an existing advertising partnership with TikTok.

One hurdle could be that Amazon is already under antitrust scrutiny.