Musk Denies Potential TikTok Bid
Summary
After being touted as a potential buyer earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has denied interest in acquiring TikTok’s US operations. “I have not put in a bid for TikTok,” Musk said at a conference hosted by German billionaire Mathias Döpfner, which was later posted on YouTube. The X owner added: “I do not acquire companies in general, it’s quite rare,” calling the 2022 acquisition of the company previously called Twitter (now X) “unusual.” In January, Bloomberg reported that Chinese officials were analyzing the possibility of Musk, with his close ties to President Donald Trump, acquiring the platform. Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 21 putting a 75-day pause on the TikTok ban, so the clock is still ticking on whether a deal can be finalized in time. It was reported last month that the Trump administration was attempting to broker a deal for enterprise software giant Oracle, along with other investors, to acquire TikTok’s operations.