As a U.S. ban on TikTok looms just days away, Vice President J.D. Vance said Thursday that a deal for the Chinese-owned video-sharing app will be reached before the April 6 deadline, despite ongoing uncertainty over the willingness of TikTok's parent company ByteDance to sell.
"It'll come out before the deadline," Vance told Fox News, adding, "We've got to wait a couple days to continue working on it, to finalize some things, and of course we're going to let the president announce whatever we ultimately decide."
President Donald Trump, speaking earlier this week aboard Air Force One, said a resolution was imminent. "We're working on TikTok. We have a lot of potential buyers. There's tremendous interest," Trump said. "I'd like to see TikTok remain alive."
ByteDance, which was granted a 75-day extension from a prior divestment deadline set in January, continues to reject U.S. claims that its ownership of TikTok constitutes a national security risk. The company has not confirmed whether it is willing to sell, nor clarified what components of the app - including its powerful recommendation algorithm - might be included in any potential deal.
"Tiktok without its algorithm is like Harry Potter without his wand - it's simply not as powerful," said Kelsey Chickering, principal analyst at Forrester Research. Chickering added that while a sale remains complex, "It is highly unlikely that TikTok will go dark again."
Potential bidders span a wide range of industries and include major tech companies, AI startups, and individual entrepreneurs:
- Amazon reportedly sent a letter expressing interest, though the company has declined to comment publicly.
- Perplexity AI, an emerging search engine startup backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has publicly released its vision for a U.S.-based version of TikTok.
- AppLovin, an app marketing firm, has also reportedly submitted a last-minute bid.
- Frank McCourt, founder of Project Liberty, has assembled a coalition with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and investor Kevin O'Leary. McCourt says he would replace TikTok's algorithm with a more open and user-controlled model.
- OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely, dubbed the "king of homemade porn" by the UK's Sunday Times, has submitted a bid that coincides with a relaunch of a company he co-founded.
- Oracle, already a key data partner for TikTok in the U.S., has been mentioned alongside tech investor Marc Andreessen and Trump ally Larry Ellison in a consortium vying for government endorsement.
Even YouTube star MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, has said he's been contacted by multiple groups asking him to serve as the public face of a bid.
Despite the White House's involvement, the final decision rests with ByteDance, which has consistently pushed back against pressure to divest and challenged the basis for the forced sale. The Chinese government has also signaled it may oppose any sale that includes the platform's source code or algorithm, which it considers proprietary technology.
