ccording to some sources familiar with the matter, the e-commerce giant has made a last-minute offer to purchase all the U.S. operations of the
social media platform, which is due to have a TikTok U.S. ban in just a few days.
This Amazon deal came in a recent offer letter that was sent to JD Vance, the Vice President, and the Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick. But, as some sources state, Amazon is not really considered a serious opportunity to become the next owner of TikTok in the U.S.
It should be mentioned that this Amazon TikTok deal marks a last-minute tactic in order to change TikTok’s owner to a U.S. owner. The U.S. government has expressed numerous concerns over national security and Chinese ownership. And to communicate these national security concerns, the U.S. government has passed a law that requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to a non-Chinese owner or face a TikTok ban. This TikTok ban was due to come into effect in January when the social media platform was banned for 12 hours until Donald Trump extended this TikTok deal for 75 days.
Now, the TikTok deadline is coming up quickly, and the U.S. government, along with various U.S. companies, is trying to decide the social media platform’s future in the country. So, the TikTok deadline is April 5, 2025, and according to the New York Times, multiple companies, such as Oracle or Blackstone, are currently in talks with the U.S. government to purchase TikTok’s operations in the country.
However, even though Amazon is not currently considered a rival in this TikTok deal, it should be mentioned that the company has many connections with the social media app. It’s true that TikTok has its own e-commerce platform called TikTok Shop, but many U.S. users and influencers encourage their followers to purchase products from Amazon.
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Even more so, Amazon has previously tried to introduce in its own app a TikTok-like feature called Inspire in December, but Amazon shoppers considered it unattractive. And this year, after about 2 years of activity, the e-commerce company decided to remove it from the Amazon app.
Even after these TikTok offers, the parent company still considers that the social media platform is not for sale, and most probably will block every eventual deal. If ByteDance doesn’t secure a U.S. deal until April 5, the social media platform is due to have a TikTok U.S. ban, probably for a longer time compared with the last TikTok ban.
Stay tuned for more updates!
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