China mulls TIKTOK sale to Musk ?

SEMAFOR

Beijing is reportedly mulling the sale of TikTok’s US operations to Elon Musk ahead of a Sunday deadline by Washington for the app’s Chinese owners to divest themselves of the business or face it being banned.

According to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, the proposal is part of a broader discussion among Chinese officials over how to deal with US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, with ties to Musk — an ally of Trump’s but also a billionaire somewhat dependent on China given Tesla has production facilities in the country — among the factors.

Combining TikTok’s US operations with Musk’s X social-media platform could boost the latter’s ad sales, and the video-sharing platform’s trove of content could also strengthen his AI efforts.