Elon Musk Could Buy TikTok —As China Reportedly Eyes Deal

Forbes

The world’s richest person Elon Musk would likely be looking at a price tag similar to what he paid for Twitter if a deal materializes to buy the American operations of TikTok, according to one well-known analyst covering Musk--as China reportedly mulls allowing a sale to Musk to prevent an all-out U.S. ban.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/01/14/heres-how-much-elon-musk-could-buy-tiktok-for-as-china-reportedly-eyes-deal/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00According to a well-known analyst covering billionaire Elon Musk, the richest man in

00:05the world is eyeing a possible purchase of TikTok, as its January 19th sale deadline

00:10quickly approaches.

00:11TikTok parent ByteDance would likely look for a sum of $40-50 billion for the U.S. operations

00:18of the hit app, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a Tuesday note to clients.

00:23That's in the range of the $44 billion Musk paid in 2022 for Twitter, now known as X,

00:29and well above the roughly $20 billion bid made by the U.S.-led consortium Project Liberty

00:34last week.

00:36However, a TikTok spokesperson dismissed the idea of a sale to Musk as, quote, pure fiction

00:42in a statement to several outlets.

00:45Musk has yet to comment on the reports, which don't mention whether Musk has expressed

00:49interest in such an acquisition.

00:52The acquisition of the U.S. operations of TikTok would be a, quote, golden asset pickup

00:57for Musk and his social media company X, added Ives, who covered Twitter when it was

01:01a public company and now covers Tesla and the American technology industry at large.

01:08Reports from Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal on Chinese officials' discussions

01:12about Musk are, quote, not a total shock given Musk's tight relationship with President-elect

01:18Donald Trump, Ives added.

01:21Also of note, Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla, his largest business, does a significant

01:26amount of business in China.

01:29About 23 percent, or $5.7 billion, of Tesla's $25.2 billion in revenue in its most recent

01:36quarter came from China.

01:39TikTok will be banned Sunday unless ByteDance divests its U.S. operations to an American

01:45entity, though the Supreme Court will soon rule on an appeal to the ban, and Trump, who

01:50has criticized the idea of banning TikTok, may be able to extend the deadline by 90 days

01:55after his Monday inauguration.

01:58For more on this story, read Derek Saul's article linked in the description.

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