President Donald Trump says he’d be open to his buddies Elon Musk or Larry Ellison buying TikTok.
- Home
- Technology
- News
Trump says he’s open to Musk or Ellison buying TikTok
President Donald Trump said he’s open to billionaire friends Elon Musk or Larry Ellison buying TikTok as part of a joint venture meant to save the app from a ban.


“Larry, let’s negotiate in front of the media,” Trump said at a press conference with the Oracle co-founder, SoftBank CEO Masa Son, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to announce a $500 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure investment. “What I’m thinking about saying to somebody is, buy it, and give half to the United States of America. Half, and we’ll give you the permit. And they’ll have a great partner, the United States.”
“Sounds like a good deal to me, Mr. President,” Ellison said.
It’s still not entirely clear how all of this would work, or how the US could legally operate a speech platform without violating the First Amendment. But it’s one of the earliest examples of how Silicon Valley’s coziness with Trump could manifest over the next four years.
Trump signed an executive order on Monday instructing his administration not to enforce the law on service providers covered by the forced divestiture bill — which include Oracle, Apple, and Google — for 75 days. But legal experts say the action provides hardly any legal cover for those companies to violate federal law and risk $850 billion in penalties. Even so, Oracle has appeared to rely on Trump’s assurances to help TikTok run in the US after the January 19th sale deadline, though the company has not yet commented on it directly.
TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance still has other offers on the table, including from billionaire Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty and now, apparently, from YouTube creator MrBeast — whose investor group is receiving legal counsel from a team that includes the brother of Trump’s attorney general pick.
As he was leaving the briefing, a reporter asked Trump if he has TikTok on his phone. “No, but I think I might put it there,” Trump responded. “I think I’ll get it right now.”

Miankina amin’ny ranomasina izy ireo mba hivelomany. Saingy ankehitriny, miharava ny aina velona ao an-dranomasina.
- 5 گھنٹے قبل

How the Supreme Court placed ICE above the law
- 14 گھنٹے قبل

Pindi Test: South Africa beat Pakistan by 8 wickets,series level by 1-1
- 8 گھنٹے قبل

Why Gen Z can’t stop watching bad takes
- 14 گھنٹے قبل

PCB announced White-ball squads named for South Africa and tri-nation series
- 11 گھنٹے قبل

The buzzy word that Democrats have pinned their hopes on
- 14 گھنٹے قبل

Pakistan can help bridge differences between the US and China, pak ambassador
- 12 گھنٹے قبل

Trump imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia over the war
- 12 گھنٹے قبل

Trump’s $230 million cash grab, briefly explained
- 14 گھنٹے قبل

Federal cabinet approves ban on religious political party TLP
- 2 گھنٹے قبل

The leaked Young Republican group chat points toward a bigger problem
- 14 گھنٹے قبل

Pakistan,Poland agree to boost trade, strengthen bilateral ties
- 4 گھنٹے قبل