Trump to weigh options for potential TikTok deal, sources say, with ban days away

(CNN) — Advisers to President Donald Trump are expected Wednesday to present the president with options for a deal to invest in TikTok that involves a number of well-heeled venture capital, private equity funds and tech companies, multiple sources familiar with the discussions say, as the White House tries to cleave the popular social video app away from Chinese ownership ahead of an April 5 deadline.

Interested parties have been eyeing a takeover of the popular short-form video app since US lawmakers passed a bill requiring the app to be sold to a US entity or be banned in the country. When Trump took office, he declined to enforce the ban for 75 days to reach a deal, but the law requires a deal to be in advanced negotiation stages to pursue another delay in banning the app.

Two large hurdles must be cleared for any potential deal: Trump must sign off on a proposal and China’s President Xi Jinping must then agree. Xi has been opposed to giving away any valuable technology infrastructure, most notably TikTok’s additive algorithm that decides which content appears for individual users.

Technology giant Oracle and private equity firm Blackstone are expected to be involved in a potential deal, according to sources involved in the discussions. Larry Ellison, Oracle’s founder, is close to the White House, having flanked Trump for announcements on data centers and other pledges. Oracle manages TikTok’s US servers. In 2020, Oracle proposed a plan nicknamed “Project Texas” to circumvent a potential ban by storing TikTok’s US user data separately from the rest of ByteDance’s data.

That proposal, made in Trump’s first term, was in response to an executive order forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations for national security reasons, but it eventually fell apart.

Vice President JD Vance is leading a new process to find a buyer or majority investor to satisfy the requirements of the bipartisan law. Vance is expected to present Trump with a deal for TikTok that includes an investment by a number of leading private equity and venture capital funds to offset ByteDance’s ownership.

Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz – whose founder Marc Andreessen is close to Elon Musk – and bicoastal private equity firm Silver Lake are also said to have expressed interest, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Private equity firm The Blackstone Group has also held discussions about potential involvement.

Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment. Silver Lake did not respond to requests for comment.

Amazon also made a last-minute bid, two people familiar with the offer told CNN. The offer was laid out in a letter to Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the people said.

Vance and other top officials who have been negotiating a broader TikTok venture are not seriously considering the Amazon offer, one of the people said. Not only because of the timing of the bid — it came at the 11th hour, shortly before the April 5 deadline before the pause on a Biden-era TikTok ban expires — but also because Vance and his team have hashed out the far more complex deal with the tech and finance world.

The White House team involved in the talks had already ruled out the notion of agreeing to a complete sell-off of the app from Byte Dance, the people said. Instead, Vance and others plan have worked out a more nuanced proposal that would involve several different companies investing in the future of TikTok.

“We have cooked up this very complex new ownership group that includes complex technological agreements dictated by law in this new structure. That’s proposal A,” one of the people said.

Amazon declined comment to CNN. The New York Times first reported Amazon’s offer.

Technology giant Microsoft also expressed interest in TikTok, according to three sources involved in the process, who said that the company floated a roughly $40 billion offer for the app. Microsoft unsuccessfully attempted to buy the US subsidiary of ByteDance in 2020 alongside Walmart for a reported $30 billion.

Vance, Lutnick, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard will present the proposal to Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the people said.

It’s unclear how far Microsoft’s recent discussions advanced; an administration official disputed that a Microsoft bid had been submitted.

“We have a lot of potential buyers, there’s tremendous interest in TikTok. The decision is going to be my decision,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One Sunday. “I’d like to see TikTok remain alive.”

Trump, who changed his posture toward TikTok during the 2024 election, credits the app with helping his standing among young voters.

The bipartisan law signed by former President Joe Biden requires the president to certify that a “qualified divestiture” of TikTok has taken place and the app is no longer controlled by ByteDance, which it designates as a “foreign adversary” controlled company. According to the law, ByteDance can own no more than 20% of the platform. It also states that the app’s US operations can not have any coordination with ByteDance when it comes to its algorithm or data sharing practices.

TikTok, which did not respond to requests for comment, went offline in the United States the day before Inauguration Day for around 12 hours. When it came back online, the app had a message thanking Trump for delaying the enforcement of the ban.

“We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States,” TikTok said at the time.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew attended Trump’s inauguration, seated on stage along the cabinet secretaries and other tech CEOs.

CNN’s Hadas Gold and Clare Duffy contributed to this report.

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