Elon Musk has clarified that he has no interest in buying the popular video-sharing platform TikTok, according to a virtual meeting at the WELT Economic Summit on January 28. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX stated that he hasn’t put in a bid for the app and doesn’t have any plans for what he would do if he had it.
The Chinese-owned app was initially set to be banned due to national security concerns, but President Donald Trump extended its ban for 75 days to allow TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, more time to find a non-Chinese buyer. Some investors and billionaires have publicly expressed interest in acquiring the platform, including YouTube influencer MrBeast and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary.
Musk completed a $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter last year but doesn’t typically acquire companies due to its “highly unusual” nature. He stated that preserving freedom of speech in America was a key factor in his Twitter acquisition, but isn’t sure if the same logic applies to TikTok.
The US assets of TikTok, excluding the algorithm, are estimated to be worth between $40 billion and $50 billion. However, much of the app’s value lies in its complex algorithm, making it difficult to assign a specific dollar figure. Musk acknowledged that he would assess the algorithm’s impact on users if he were to consider buying the platform.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/08/business/elon-musk-tiktok-buyers/index.html