Amazon among the companies vying to buy TikTok as the Saturday deadline for ByteDance to sell nears

According to the White House, several potential buyers have bid on the popular social media app to ensure its continued access in the United States. 

Amazon, the company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is offering to purchase TikTok, the popular social media app facing a United States ban if not sold by its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, according to NBCNews. President Trump gave ByteDance a deadline of Saturday, April 5, to sell or face a ban in the United States. 

Because of the last-minute nature of the bid, it isn’t considered a serious contender to purchase the app should ByteDance agree to sell, but is added to what is believed to be a sizable list of suitors. The talks are being led by the White House; Vice President J.D. Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick received the bid from Amazon via a letter, as reported by the New York Times. 

President Trump was expected to weigh the various offers to purchase TikTok on Wednesday and has placed Vice President Vance and national security advisor, Michael Waltz, in charge of determining the best course of action for the future of the social media app. 

TikTok, one of the most popular apps for social media users and influencers alike, has been the subject of debate for years and has become a political talking point on both sides of the aisle. Former President Joe Biden signed a law in 2024 requiring ByteDance to sell to a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United States. After President Trump assumed office in January 2025, he signed an executive order on day one, extending the deadline for ByteDance to sell until April 5, 2025. In that time, several entities and companies have offered to purchase the company to ensure its survival for users in the United States. 

As the full list of potential suitors has been kept under wraps, it appears that no deal is imminent and, according to NBC News, President Trump has signaled that he is willing to extend the deadline if no deal can be made by the target date. In an interview earlier this year about the potential deal, Vice President Vance signaled that they might be able to get near a deal by the deadline, but its possible that it wasn’t likely to be finalized in time. 

“Typically, some of these deals that are much smaller and involve much less capital take months to close. We’re trying to close this thing by early April. I think that the outlines of this thing will be very clear. The question is whether we can get all the paper done,” said Vance. 

President Trump seems optimistic that a deal will get done. 

“We have a lot of potential buyers. There’s tremendous interest in TikTok. The decision is going to be my decision. TikTok is, it’s very interesting, and a lot of people want to buy it.”

Only time will tell the fate of TikTok in America.