(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump on Friday extended the deadline for TikTok to be banned or sold off by its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance.
The move comes as Walmart is actively considering joining a group of investors to buy TikTok, according to sources close to the deal, who say Walmart’s interest was triggered by Amazon throwing their hat into the ring.
Back in 2020, Walmart said it was teaming up with Microsoft to make a bid for TikTok. The app would give the retail giant access to hundreds of millions of consumers who could become their customers and audiences for their advertisements, in a boost to their e-commerce business.
The Trump administration is considering a deal to save TikTok that would have China maintaining control of the algorithm that will be leased to a U.S. company, with a minority ownership stake, a source close to the deal told ABC News.
It’s unclear if that proposal follows the bipartisan law that Congress passed, which forces TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell the wildly popular social media platform or face a ban in the U.S.
Sources say there are several investors interested in jumping in to purchase TikTok, including Amazon, Oracle and Applovin. A source close to the deal also says that Tim Stokely, the founder of the adult website OnlyFans, has also made a late-stage bid for TikTok.
The White House and Walmart have not immediately responded to requests for comment.
Trump said on Thursday hinted that his recently announced tariffs on China could be a negotiating tactic to achieve a deal on a TikTok sale.
“If somebody said that we’re going to give you something that’s so phenomenal, as long as they’re giving us something, that’s good,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariff?’” he said. “The tariffs give us great power to negotiate.”
Even if Trump approves a deal, China will still need to sign off on it. U.S.-China relations are tense, with the US about to hit China with a whopping 54% tariff. China is now retaliating with its own 34% tariffs on imports from the U.S.
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