Unusual Whales

Elon Musk said he isn’t interested in buying TikTok

Unusual Whales -

He made his first public comments about potentially buying TikTok at a conference in Germany last month, hosted by Mathias Doepfner, the billionaire CEO of German media giant Axel Springer.

“I have not made a bid for TikTok,” Musk said during the conference, appearing via video. His remarks were made public by Die Welt on Saturday. “I don’t have any plans for what I’d do if I owned TikTok.”

Musk added that he doesn’t use TikTok personally. “I’m not eager to acquire TikTok,” said Musk, who purchased Twitter in 2022 and later rebranded it as X.

Buying Twitter was an exception, he explained, saying he did it to "preserve freedom of speech." “I usually build companies from scratch,” Musk added.

In January, Bloomberg News reported that Chinese officials were considering a scenario in which Musk, a close ally of President Donald Trump, could acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations if the company failed to avoid a ban. Under this proposal, Musk’s X would take over TikTok U.S. and manage it jointly, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

On Trump’s first day back in office, he signed an executive order temporarily halting any forced sale or shutdown of TikTok, giving the company and its Chinese parent, ByteDance, more time to negotiate a deal. The order was signed just hours after Trump’s inauguration, which was attended by ByteDance CEO Shou Chew.

The move was the latest twist in a years-long effort by Washington to ban the app due to national security concerns. While Trump initially pushed for a ban during his first term, he reversed course after TikTok helped him gain traction with younger voters. “We won the young vote. I think I won it through TikTok, so I’ve got a soft spot for it,” Trump said.

Musk, like Trump, could still change his mind.

Trump has previously suggested he’d be open to Musk or Oracle Corp. Chairman Larry Ellison purchasing TikTok as part of a joint venture with the U.S. government. This week, Trump signed a separate executive order directing officials to create a U.S. sovereign wealth fund that could help facilitate the sale of TikTok.