Trump is on the lookout for potential Tiktok buyers – who’re the likely contenders?

President Donald Trump wants an American investor to take a big stake in Bytede's Tiktok. Multiple parties are involved, at the same time as potential buyers face a litany of legal hurdles and obstacles.

After stepping in to revive Tiktok within the US and delaying a law that will effectively ban the app, Trump is on the lookout for ways to maintain the favored platform alive.

He has submitted a proposal to an American stakeholder to purchase the corporate after which sell a 50% stake to the US government, which is able to jointly operate the app together with the private party.

So who’re the likely competitors for some of the popular apps within the US?

Trump has already reported several major investors in his inner circle as acceptable buyers, one in all whom is Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk.

The world's richest person leads Trump's latest Department of Government Efficiency, has close business ties to China and has expressed opposition On the Tiktok ban.

Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the Chinese government was mentioning a plan to accumulate Musk Tiktok's US operations, citing anonymous sources. This followed a Wall Street Journal report that Tiktoks was CEO Ask advice from Musk before Trump's inauguration.

CNBC couldn’t reach Musk for comment.

“Elon Musk remains inside and centered as a potential bidder for TIKTOK, which likely includes some technical partners/outside investors to complete a deal,” Wedbush said in a research note on Wednesday.

“Musk would be hand-selected by Beijing, and his ironclad with Trump would make this a very logical choice in our view,” the note added.

Nat Schindler, an analyst at Scotiabank, also noted that Musk's acquisition of Twitter has shown his interest in global social media platforms. However, he also sees some potential obstacles for the tech tycoon.

“Musk is already under fire for his ownership of X and the perception that he is using it to promote certain political ideas, and any involvement in Tiktok could draw additional fire and potential antitrust scrutiny,” Schindler said.

Trump has also said he would “like” oracle Chairman Larry Ellison buys the platform.

Ellison, a long-time Trump supporter, stood next to the president at a press conference On his AI infrastructure investment plans on Tuesday, Trump raised questions on a possible Tiktok deal.

“What I'm thinking about telling someone is buy it and give half to the United States of America. Half we'll give permission,” Trump said before turning to Ellison to ask if the deal sounded reasonable.

“Sounds like a good deal to me, Mr. President,” Ellison replied.

Ellison and his company are currently at the middle of the Tiktok dilemma, acting as a cloud infrastructure provider for Bytedance within the US

Given its existing relationship with Tiktok, Oracle is “directly investing in Tiktok's success in the region,” said Scotiabank's Schindler.

Ellison had bid along with Tiktok Walmartwhen Trump first pushed for a ban on the platform in 2020. Neither company responded to CNBC's request for comment.

Trump had agreed in principle to the Walmart-Oracle deal, which might have seen the tech and retail giant partner to take over the video-sharing app within the US and avoid a shutdown. However, the Trump administration's try and ban Tiktok within the US fell through within the face of legal challenges.

Ellison later joined a bunch of investors that helped Elon Musk, the social media platform Twitter, now often called X in 2022.

“[We believe] “Oracle/Ellison could play a crucial role in any deal given their important technology partnership with Tiktok and its White House appearance with Project Stargate,” Wedbush said.

Wedbush added that in the coming weeks it expects to see a number of Tiktok territories from a variety of players with Musk and Ellison leading the pack.

In addition to Musk and Ellison, experts flagged several other parties that were likely interested in a potential deal for Tiktok, adding that barriers to entry were high.

Given the financial stakes of a Tiktok deal, a rogue investor is unlikely to buy the platform on the cheap, Paul Triolo of Albright Stone Group told CNBC.

“While a current valuation on Tiktok is tough to seek out, it's probably within the range of $40 billion to $80 billion, meaning anyone who decides to get in with some serious money must be ready,” he said .

He added that potential suitors are likely to include some of America's biggest social media and technology players, such as: Meta And Googlein addition to Musk's X

Meta and Google did not immediately respond to a CNBC query.

However, Sarah Kreps, the director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University, warned that players like Meta, Google and Musk could get a significant stake in Tiktok, which could raise antitrust questions.

Scotiabank analyst Nat Schindler noted that there were a number of other players as well, including existing investors BlackrockCoated and general Atlantic that owns a big piece from Tiktok's parent company. According to him, some of these investors are likely to participate in a sale of the US platform by investing in the new entity.

“Other major VCs, hedge funds and asset managers from Tiger to Loyalty would also likely show interest in a fast-growing global platform with such an enormous audience base.”

The passion around buying Tiktok US has also seen some unconventional players enter the fray.

Social media superstar Mrbeast – real name Jimmy Donaldson – who has more than 100 million Tiktok followers, has posted several videos in which he hinted at serious interest in buying the platform and claimed he was in talks with billionaires led.

In a video, the internet personality claimed he did it An official offer readyjoked that he could be the new Tiktok CEO.

Media reports also mentioned Donaldson and a group of investors preparing to make an offer for Tiktok.

On Thursday, Matthew Hiltzik, a spokesman for Donaldson, told CNBC that “several potential buyers are in ongoing discussions with Jimmy, but doesn’t have exclusive agreements with any of them.”

Led by Frank McCourt, founder of Project Liberty, and featuring Canadian businessman and TV personality Kevin O'Leary, “The People's Bid for Tiktok” has made a $20 billion cash bid to purchase Tiktok.

O'Leary told CNBC last year that he wanted to buy the platform at a discount because a potential deal did not include Tiktok's original algorithm. The organization said it already has an algorithm replacement for Tiktok US

Following Trump's comments about a 50% stake in the platform, McCourt and O'Leary told CNBC this week that they were interested in a Tiktok deal and hoped to work with Trump to make it happen.

McCourt also told CNBC that he wants Tiktok to lead a decentralized social network protocol, or DSNP, overseen by Project Liberty Institute, a nonprofit founded by the billionaire.

Bidding interest aside, a number of legal and technology experts have told CNBC that Trump's executive order delaying the Tiktok ban contradicts the Supreme Court's previous ruling to uphold PAFAC and face legal opposition.

O'Leary also told CNBC on Monday that a Tiktok deal could not take place under current law after the Supreme Court ruled Protecting Americans from the Controlled Laws of Foreign Opponentsor Pafaka on Sunday.

Beijing and its pending negotiations with Trump over trade with the US are also expected to play a deciding factor in whether the Chinese government would divest Bytedance.

“In this game of high stakes poker between the Trump administration and Beijing, it's clear that Tiktok is an enormous chip on the table”