President Donald Trump is willing to give TikTok more time to find a new owner.
“So perhaps I shouldn’t say this, but I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” the president told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview that aired Sunday (May 4).
“TikTok is — it’s very interesting, but it’ll be protected. It’ll be very strongly protected. But if it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension, might not need it.”
Asked if a deal was close, Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker: “We actually have a deal. … We have a group of purchasers, very substantial people.”
The White House had reportedly been at work on a deal that would have given new outside investors 50% of TikTok’s U.S. business in a unit that would be spun off from ByteDance. ByteDance’s existing U.S. investors would also own roughly 30% of the business, bringing ByteDance’s stake down to just under 20%.
Other reported bidders include Amazon, which — as PYMNTS wrote last month — would give the eCommerce giant a powerful tool for influencing shopper behavior, especially among younger consumers.
“Moreover, such an acquisition could allow Amazon to integrate TikTok’s influential advertising ecosystem into its own retail infrastructure, providing a seamless link between content discovery and direct purchasing,” the report added.
“While the deal remains speculative, it highlights Amazon’s willingness to pursue unconventional strategies to remain at the forefront of consumer engagement.”
The U.S. government — under President Joe Biden — signed a law last year requiring TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the platform due to national security concerns related to the app’s ties to China.
The law gave ByteDance until Jan. 19 of this year to complete the same. When that deadline came and went, TikTok briefly went dark, until Trump promised to give the company more time.
The new deadline was in April. Trump has said that China’s objections to U.S. tariffs derailed a possible deal just before it was about to be signed, with the U.S. setting a new deadline of June 19. The president told NBC Sunday that there may not be cause for a second extension.
Trump had originally supported banning TikTok — it was something he pushed for during his first term — but reversed his position during the campaign last year, lobbying for a solution even after the Supreme Court sided against ByteDance in trying to halt the ban.
