- TikTok could face a shutdown in the US if it doesn’t find a new owner by April 5.
- But President Donald Trump says he could extend the sale deadline again if needed.
- Big-name buyers like Kevin O’Leary and Alexis Ohanian have expressed interest in TikTok.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that there is “a lot of interest” in a potential TikTok deal and that he is open to extending the sale deadline if needed.
“We have a lot of interest in TikTok,” Trump told reporters during a press conference in the Oval Office, adding that he hopes China will approve the deal.
When asked if he would extend the deadline, Trump said that it would depend on how the sale process goes.
“Well, we will see. Right now, we have at least another month, so we don’t need an extension. But if I needed an extension, I’d probably get it extended,” Trump said.
Under the divest-or-ban law passed by the Senate in April, TikTok was supposed to stop operating in the US on January 19 if it didn’t divest itself from its Chinese owner, ByteDance. But the ban was paused for 75 days after Trump signed an executive order on January 20.
TikTok has until April 5 to find a new owner in the US.
Representatives for the White House and TikTok did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
TikTok sale has drawn interest from big-name buyers
Trump has floated several ways to save TikTok. Shortly after signing the order halting the ban, Trump said the US should own half of TikTok. He also said the company could be sold to tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Larry Ellison.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order to establish a sovereign wealth fund for the US. Trump told reporters at the time that the new fund could be used to buy TikTok.
Several big-name buyers like Trump’s former treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, have expressed interest in purchasing TikTok.
A consortium of big-name buyers has also been assembled, in the form of “The People’s Bid.” On Tuesday, Alexis Ohanian, the cofounder of Reddit, announced that he was making a joint bid for TikTok with former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary.
“TikTok has been a game changer for creators, and it’s future should be built by them,” Ohanian wrote in an X post on Tuesday.
