Amazon has emerged as one of the latest bidders for TikTok, sending a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to express its interest in acquiring the platform.
Amazon’s stock rose by 2% following news of the last-minute bid.
The e-commerce giant has long aimed to create its own social media platform to drive product sales and appeal to younger audiences, having previously acquired Twitch in 2014 and Goodreads in 2013. Earlier this year, Amazon even tested a TikTok-like short-form video feed called Inspire, though it was shut down.
The deadline for TikTok to secure a non-Chinese buyer is rapidly approaching, with a hard cutoff of April 5. If the company doesn’t find a suitable buyer by then, it could face a ban in the United States.
U.S. officials have raised concerns about the app’s links to China, which TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have denied. The Trump administration is holding a meeting on Wednesday to explore options for the platform’s future.
In addition to Amazon, Tim Stokely’s startup, Zoop, has partnered with a cryptocurrency foundation to submit a proposal for the TikTok acquisition. Meanwhile, private equity firm Blackstone is reportedly in talks to join ByteDance’s non-Chinese shareholders in contributing capital to bid for TikTok’s U.S. operations.
U.S. venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is also discussing a funding arrangement to help Oracle and other American investors buy out TikTok’s Chinese stakeholders and separate its U.S. business from ByteDance.
The White House has been involved in negotiations, proposing the creation of a U.S. entity for TikTok while reducing Chinese ownership to below 20%, in compliance with U.S. law. The app has been used by nearly half of all Americans, and its future has been uncertain since a 2024 law mandated ByteDance to divest TikTok by January 19.
U.S. officials argue that ByteDance’s ownership makes TikTok susceptible to Chinese government influence, which could potentially use the platform to gather data on Americans or interfere in U.S. affairs.
