Amazon among bidders to acquire TikTok as deadline looms for a buyer to be found

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Apr 02, 2025 4:13 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

As the play deadline for TikTok to find a purchaser approaches, bidders for the short-video societal media tract are piling up.

Amazon and, separately, a consortium led by OnlyFans laminitis Tim Stokely are the latest to propulsion their hats into the ringing for TikTok. The tract faces an April 5 deadline to scope a woody to find a non-Chinese purchaser nether menace of being banned from the United States.

U.S. officials person raised information concerns implicit the app's ties to China, which TikTok and proprietor ByteDance person denied. Trump medication officials are gathering connected Wednesday to sermon the assorted options for TikTok.

Startup Zoop, which is tally by Stokely, laminitis of big contented societal media tract OnlyFans, has partnered with a cryptocurrency instauration to taxable a late-stage program to bid for TikTok, the 2 told Reuters Wednesday.

A U.S. medication authoritative confirmed Amazon had sent a missive to Vice President JD Vance and Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Amazon declined to comment, portion TikTok and ByteDance did not instantly respond to requests for comment.

Shares of Amazon roseate astir 2 per cent pursuing quality of the last-minute TikTok bid.

Amazon has agelong harboured ambitions for an in-house societal media web that could assistance it merchantability much goods and entreaty to a younger audience. It bought unrecorded video tract Twitch successful 2014 for astir $1 cardinal US and publication reappraisal tract Goodreads successful 2013 arsenic portion of its efforts to physique a viable societal network.

Amazon besides developed and tested a TikTok-like short-form video and photograph provender called Inspire that it shuttered earlier this year.

U.S. President Donald Trump said past period his medication was successful interaction with 4 antithetic groups astir the merchantability of the platform, without identifying them.

Private equity steadfast Blackstone is discussing joining ByteDance's non-Chinese shareholders, led by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, successful contributing caller superior to bid for TikTok's U.S. business, Reuters reported past week.

U.S. task superior steadfast Andreessen Horowitz is besides successful talks to adhd extracurricular backing to bargain retired TikTok's Chinese investors, arsenic portion of a bid led by Oracle and different American investors to carve it retired of ByteDance, the Financial Times reported connected Tuesday.

White House-led talks entail plans to rotation disconnected a U.S. entity for TikTok and dilute Chinese ownership successful the caller concern to beneath a 20 per cent threshold required by U.S. law, Reuters reported past month.

The New York Times archetypal reported Amazon's engagement connected Wednesday. Various parties who person been progressive successful the talks bash not look to beryllium taking Amazon's bid seriously, the Times reported.

The aboriginal of the app utilized by astir fractional of each Americans has been up successful the aerial since a 2024 law, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, required ByteDance to divest TikTok by Jan. 19. Trump, connected his archetypal time backmost successful bureau arsenic president, signed an enforcement bid postponing the country's prohibition of TikTok for 75 days.

Washington officials person said TikTok's ownership by ByteDance makes it beholden to the Chinese government, and speculated that Beijing could usage the app to behaviour power operations against the United States and cod information connected Americans.