Amazon Reportedly Makes Offer To Buy TikTok

To avoid a ban, ByteDance has until Saturday to sell the U.S. segment of TikTok. While many interested parties have emerged in recent months, Amazon is reportedly the latest bidder looking to take control of the short-form video app.

Supposedly, Amazon sent an offer letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to people familiar with the matter. The dollar amount purportedly presented by Amazon has not been revealed, nor have any other deal specifics.

President Donald Trump is expected to discuss the sale of the app with national security adviser Mike Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard sometime today, per NBC News. Vance and Lutnick are also likely to attend the meeting. However, insiders claim that Amazon’s offer to buy TikTok is not being taken seriously.

April 5 is the deadline for ByteDance to offload the app, or else it may go dark for its 170 million U.S. users. Neither Amazon nor TikTok has commented on any purchase proposal.

Earlier this week, President Trump hinted that a buyer would emerge before the deadline expires. However, the commander-in-chief may try to extend the closing date should an acceptable deal not surface in time.

Potential TikTok Buyers

TikTok’s future was put in jeopardy after U.S. officials raised concerns about the app’s potential threat to national security. Allegedly, the app collects the personal data of its users and is required by law to hand over the information to the Chinese government. In 2024, a federal law banned the app unless ByteDance sold the U.S. portion to a non-Chinese entity.

The legislation quickly started a firestorm of possible buyers clamoring to take ownership of the app and its potential access to millions of users. The opportunity attracted other tech companies, investor groups, and even social media influencers.

AI startup Perplexity reportedly showed strong interest in making TikTok its own earlier this year. The alleged proposal involved Perplexity creating a new, merged company, which would retain most of ByteDance’s existing investors.

Private equity firm Blackstone apparently had put its hat in the ring to acquire part of TikTok. Combined with Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, Blackstone purportedly offered ByteDance a deal that would fold TikTok’s U.S. business into a new entity.

YouTuber MrBeast, also known as James Donaldson, reportedly wanted to put together a TikTok offer as well. At first, no one thought MrBeast was sincere. Yet, the influencer posted on social media that buying TikTok could be on the table with the right financial backers.

Long before these potential suitors emerged, there were rumors that Microsoft and Walmart were interested in buying TikTok in 2020. However, no deal was ultimately reached, and ByteDance retained ownership.