A big New York Times report dropped today alleging that the e-commerce giant Amazon put in a last-minute bid to purchase TikTok ahead of its latest ban extension ending on Saturday, April 5.
While banning the social video app over "national concerns" due to Chinese ownership has had bipartisan support for the last couple of years, the reality of banning the app has created a furor in DC as politicians attempt to find ways to keep the app in place.
The report claims that Amazon's bid was sent via an offer letter to Vice President JD Vance and the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
President Trump has repeatedly said that he will try to save the app, after initially attempting to start a ban process during his first administration.
How we got here
Under former President Biden, the ban was signed into law in the spring of 2024. It was supposed to take effect in January of this year. Even the Supreme Court got in on the act, upholding the ban.
Trump is supposed to meet with White House officials to discuss TikTok this week. Reportedly, these talks would involve creating a potential deal involving a number of U.S.-based investors, including the tech company Oracle. This would allegedly sidestep an actual formal sale. Whether or not that deal will satisfy the conditions of the ban is unclear.
Why would Amazon buy TikTok?
As for Amazon, it's perhaps unsurprising that the e-commerce giant would consider investing in TikTok. Over its lifetime, the social app has evolved into an e-commerce hub where influencers can recommend products to followers who can start shopping from within the app via the TikTok Shop.
Apparently, many influencers encourage viewers to purchase recommended products on Amazon, which gives them a cut of the transaction.
While Microsoft and Walmart made bids for the company in 2020 when a ban first came up, Amazon's bid would make for one of the more high-profile companies or investors offering to purchase the beleaguered app.
Whether or not TikTok will actually sell is still up for debate. ByteDance, the Chinese parent company, has repeatedly said that TikTok is not for sale.
Is this TikTok's last chance in the U.S.?
On January 19, TikTok briefly went down for its 170 million American users, which you could get around. However, that outage lasted only a few hours before service was restored with a message on the app that read, "as a result of President Trump's efforts."
Among his many executive orders, Trump signed one that extended the delay of the ban for 75 days while proposing that the U.S. should own at least 50% of the app.
The app may not shut down again, as Trump has indicated that he will extend the deadline if needed. Last week, he told reporters that he believed a sale would happen before March 30.
"We have a lot of potential buyers. There’s tremendous interest in TikTok,” Trump said. “I’d like to see TikTok remain alive."
Whether or not a sale happens remains up in the air for now. In the meantime, we continue to dance around the ban until it actually happens, or doesn't.
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