Report: China Could Sell TikTok to Musk

In response to the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a law requiring the Chinese company ByteDance divest from TikTok or face a complete ban, the Chinese government is considering a move to sell the social media platform to Elon Musk, says a report that broke Monday.

The Chinese government, which holds a significant number of shares in parent company ByteDance, would prefer that TikTok remain in its hands. But, considering that the country faces an incoming Trump administration largely hostile to Chinese interests, a sale of TikTok to Trump’s ally Elon Musk might be a productive way to lower tensions. The cost, however, would be high; TikTok is valued at $40–50 billion, and Musk is still repaying debts from his purchase of Twitter.

The most likely alternative, should such a deal not go through, would be for ByteDance to simply shutter operations in the U.S. entirely.

All depends on the ruling of the Supreme Court. ByteDance has argued that the law requiring it to divest or face a ban violates the First Amendment, while the U.S. government argues that the ban is permissible for national security purposes, given the level of control the Chinese government has over the platform. A ruling is expected as soon as Wednesday.