After years of rejecting the idea of a sale of TikTok’s US assets to an American buyer in order to avert a ban, China and ByteDance may have found an owner they could live with: Elon Musk.

He previously floated a joint venture, saying that the US should be entitled to half of the app.

Musk acquired X (then Twitter) in October 2022 after a highly publicized back and forth, in which he gave up on the acquisition midway but ultimately closed the deal, paying $44 billion for the platform. X's user base has been on a decline since the acquisition, and advertising revenues have plummeted.

TikTok denied a report that China is exploring a sale of the app to Elon Musk to keep TikTok operational in America amid a looming U.S. ban.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was open to billionaire Elon Musk buying social media app TikTok if the Tesla CEO wanted to do so.

Chinese officials are looking into selling the U.S. operations of TikTok to Elon Musk if the social media firm ultimately gets banned here, according to reports.

Chinese officials reportedly want ByteDance Ltd. to remain the owners of TikTok but is in discussion on how to work with the Trump Administration.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has said he’s open to the possibility of Elon Musk purchasing TikTok. Trump, who signed an executive order delaying the federal ban of TikTok for 75 days just hours

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (January 21) he was open to billionaire Elon Musk buying social media app TikTok if the Tesla CEO wanted to do so. Julian Satterthwaite reports.