• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic

3

Ray Dalio says the U.S. just had its 'Suez moment'—and history says what comes next could end an empire

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic

3

Ray Dalio says the U.S. just had its 'Suez moment'—and history says what comes next could end an empire
TechTikTok

Biden just told TikTok to sell or leave the country. Here’s who is lining up to buy the app worth billions

By
Dylan Sloan
Dylan Sloan
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Dylan Sloan
Dylan Sloan
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 23, 2024, 3:41 PM ET
Updated April 24, 2024, 12:11 PM ET
TikTok users campaigning outside Congress.
Despite opposition from TikTok supporters in Washington, the Senate looks poised to pass a bill requiring the popular app’s Chinese parent company to sell it or face a ban.Tom Williams—CQ/Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

The clock is ticking for TikTok: President Joe Biden just signed a bill requiring TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the popular social media app—or else face a ban. The TikTok divestment bill was bundled into a massive $95 billion aid package, which helped fast-track it through Congress. TikTok has vowed to sue over the bill, arguing that it amounts to restrictions on free speech.

Recommended Video

Legislators introduced the bill to address concerns that the Chinese government, through TikTok’s Chinese owners, could be using the app to steal American users’ data and threaten national security. TikTok has repeatedly denied these claims and maintained that the American version of the app is sandboxed from the Chinese version, but recent Fortune reporting quotes former employees saying that they worked closely with Chinese staff and that the separation between U.S. and Chinese operations was largely cosmetic.

The bill doesn’t call for an outright ban. Under its terms, ByteDance would have 270 days to sell the app to a buyer who’s not associated with any foreign adversary of the U.S. If ByteDance doesn’t sell, then TikTok would be removed from app stores.

TikTok is one of the most popular social-media apps around—and with the possibility of a forced sale on the table, potential suitors are already preparing bids. Here are a few of the individuals and companies who have already been linked with a potential TikTok deal.

Steve Mnuchin

Former secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin made a splash last month when he announced his intention to put together a group of investors to buy TikTok. Mnuchin, who urged then-President Trump to block Chinese company ByteDance from acquiring TikTok back in 2020, could have the deep pockets and business connections to make a deal happen: A career banker, he recently made headlines for handing beleaguered New York Community Bancorp a $1 billion lifeline after investor concerns caused a huge stock selloff.

“I had President Trump sign an order that TikTok had to be sold, and I continue to believe that. So I think the legislation should pass … It’s a great business, and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok,” Mnuchin said on CNBC. “It should be owned by U.S. businesses. There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China.”

Kevin O’Leary

The Shark Tank star announced his intention to make a bid last month if the proposed bill was passed, saying on Fox News, “If this order goes through, it’s got to be sold. I’m going to put up my hand and say, ‘I’ll buy it.’”

O’Leary noted that if ByteDance sold TikTok, he believed it would almost certainly not include the proprietary recommendation algorithm that powers its For You page and is one of its most valuable assets. O’Leary said in part because of that, he was putting together a group of investors to make a bid of between $20 billion and $30 billion—roughly half as much as Bloomberg’s most recent estimate of the worth of the app’s U.S. business.

“What you’re getting is the valuable domestic brand TikTok and 170 million users, with no data … This is the most complex deal ever in social media, and I have to build a new algorithm,” O’Leary told CNBC. “It’s a very interesting deal, and I like it.” 

Bobby Kotick

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Bobby Kotick, former CEO of video-game publisher Activision, has expressed interest in buying the app from ByteDance, and has gone so far as to discuss the idea with ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming.

Kotick would almost certainly need coinvestors to raise enough money for a buyout: The Journal reported that Kotick has run the idea by other tech executives, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. 

Big Tech

Other tech giants including Microsoft, Oracle, and Meta have long been floated as possible candidates to buy out TikTok. They have the money, and some of them are already in the social-media game. Further, they’ve tried it before: Microsoft considered buying TikTok as far back as August 2020, announcing in a blog post that “following a conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President Donald J. Trump, Microsoft is prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States.” That deal never materialized, though, after TikTok beat Trump’s sell order in court.

Cloud-computing provider Oracle has a long-standing business relationship with ByteDance, which has generated speculation that it could be a potential suitor. Oracle and Walmart partnered to put together a competing TikTok bid in 2020, which fell apart after Trump’s order was beaten in court. After facing criticisms from the Trump administration and other American officials about its data-security practices, TikTok launched “Project Texas” in 2020, an initiative to keep all of its American user data in separate American data centers rather than routing them through servers in Virginia and Singapore where it could allegedly be accessed by Chinese authorities. 

TikTok chose Oracle to help run the computing side of Project Texas, and a UBS report estimated the partnership has netted Oracle around $1.5 billion. As part of the deal, Oracle has reviewed TikTok’s confidential source code, the proprietary and highly valuable recommendation algorithm that powers its For You page. 

But UBS quoted an unnamed former FCC commissioner as saying that any sale to a tech company would be next to impossible because of antitrust concerns: “Whoever buys a controlling interest cannot be a tech company; the regulators won’t allow it.”

Nobody

Even if President Biden signs off on the final bill, TikTok has already announced it will pursue legal action to block a sale.

“This is an unprecedented deal worked out between the Republican Speaker and President Biden,” Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, said in a memo to TikTok’s U.S. staff. “At the stage that the bill is signed, we will move to the courts for a legal challenge.”

It’s unclear what the legal challenge would look like, but it could focus on the alleged First Amendment restrictions of banning the app. TikTok lobbyists—and hundreds of TikTok users—have been in Washington for weeks, making their case to keep the app running.

“My biggest concern is people’s ability to stay connected to their subcultures,” Los Angeles–based content creator Debbie Galo told Axios. “That’s a big deal.”

About the Author
By Dylan Sloan
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

gr
PoliticsElections
Anthropic and OpenAI waged a $27 million proxy war in a Manhattan congressional race. The winner told them both to get lost
By Sasha RogelbergJune 26, 2026
1 hour ago
fire
Europeclimate change
Greece tackles climate change wildfire risk with satellite network that can spot a blaze the size of a parking space
By Derek Gatopoulos and The Associated PressJune 26, 2026
3 hours ago
AI boom may be on its last legs amid stock volatility and dash for cash—but will go out in a blaze of glory with ‘blow-off phase’ before bubble pops
AItech stocks
AI boom may be on its last legs amid stock volatility and dash for cash—but will go out in a blaze of glory with ‘blow-off phase’ before bubble pops
By Jason MaJune 26, 2026
5 hours ago
m
LawMeta
‘Careless People’ author claims Meta surveilled her for a year to enforce her silence
By Barbara Ortutay and The Associated PressJune 26, 2026
5 hours ago
apple
Big TechApple
Apple blames inflationary effect of AI for price hikes: ‘We have never seen a component price increase this much’
By Barbara Ortutay and The Associated PressJune 26, 2026
5 hours ago
John Collison, president and co-founder of Stripe
SuccessJobs
Stripe cofounder says Gen Z will need two college majors to compete thanks to AI—and investing legend Charlie Munger called it first
By Emma BurleighJune 26, 2026
6 hours ago

Most Popular

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
2 days ago
Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic
Success
Now worth $200 million, Sarah Jessica Parker credits being ‘one of eight kids that struggled financially’ for her hunger, ambition, and work ethic
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJune 24, 2026
3 days ago
Ray Dalio says the U.S. just had its 'Suez moment'—and history says what comes next could end an empire
Economy
Ray Dalio says the U.S. just had its 'Suez moment'—and history says what comes next could end an empire
By Nick LichtenbergJune 26, 2026
14 hours ago
The bond market knows something about the $39 trillion national debt that Washington doesn’t
Economy
The bond market knows something about the $39 trillion national debt that Washington doesn’t
By Eva RoytburgJune 25, 2026
23 hours ago
Trump turns on Big Oil donors who spent nearly $100 million to get him elected—now he wants the DOJ to investigate them for price gouging
Economy
Trump turns on Big Oil donors who spent nearly $100 million to get him elected—now he wants the DOJ to investigate them for price gouging
By Tristan BoveJune 25, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of oil as of June 25, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 25, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 25, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.