Trump says he’s ‘open’ to Elon Musk buying TikTok as he confirms $500B Stargate investment in first White House presser
PRESIDENT Donald Trump has said he’s open to the possibility of Elon Musk purchasing TikTok.
Trump, who signed an executive order delaying the federal ban of TikTok for 75 days just hours into his second term, called the popular video-sharing platform “worthless without a permit” from the United States.
While taking questions after announcing the $500 billion AI infrastructure project Stargate on Tuesday, Trump was asked if he’d be open to letting Musk buy TikTok.
“I would be, yeah,” Trump said.
“I met with owners of TikTok, the big owners, it’s worthless if it doesn’t get a permit,” Trump continued.
“It’s not like you can take the US. The whole thing is worthless. With a permit it’s worth like a trillion dollars.
“So, what I’m thinking saying to somebody is buy it and give half to the United States of America and we’ll give you the a permit and they’ll have a great partner, the United States.”
Musk famously bought X, formerly Twitter, in 2022 for about $44 billion.
But Trump also said he’s open for Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, to purchase TikTok.
“I would like Larry to buy it,” Trump told reporters.
“Let’s negotiate in front of the media, Larry,” he quipped.
Ellison was on hand for the Stargate announcement, along with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Sam Altman of OpenAI.
The trio of executives are expected to funnel about $500 billion into the Stargate project over the next four years.
“What we want to do is we want to keep it in this country,” Trump said of building the artificial intelligence infrastructure.
“China is a competitor, others are competitors. We want to be in this country, and we’re making it available.”
The Stargate announcement comes just days after TikTok’s China-based parent ByteDance failed to find a buyer by the given January 19 deadline.
As a result, the uber-popular app went dark for nearly a day.
The app came back online just hours later with a message from TikTok thanking Trump.
“We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive,” the company said.
“We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
Donald Trump and Elon Musk's complicated relationship
Former president Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk's relationship started rocky, but the pair have since reconciled, with Musk fully endorsing Trump and interviewing him on X Spaces on August 12.
In 2022, Elon Musk and Donald Trump publicly feuded on X, then still known as Twitter.
Trump called Musk a liar and “bulls**t artist” during a rally in Alaska.
“Elon is not going to buy Twitter,” Trump said at the time.
“You know, he said the other day, ‘I’ve never voted for a Republican.’ I said, ‘I didn’t know that – you told me you voted for me. So he’s another bulls**t artist, but he’s not going to be buying it.”
In response to Trump’s critiques, the SpaceX founder clapped back.
“I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” Musk posted.
Musk also went on to buy X months later.
The X owner said he had previously voted mostly for Democrats since becoming a United States citizen in 2002.
Musk initially backed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.
“My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist,” Musk wrote on X in 2022.
“I had hoped that would [be] the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far.”
His shift in political parties might be attributed to his plummeting relationship with President Joe Biden who didn’t invite Musk to the 2021 White House electric vehicle summit.
Despite their past issues, Trump and Musk’s relationship took a turn in March after they met at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump was also previously against electric vehicles but has since changed his stance.
“I’m for electric cars,” he said at a rally earlier this month.
“I have to be, because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice.”
Following the assassination attempt at Trump’s rally in July, Musk announced his support for the former president.
“I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” Musk wrote on X after the shooting.
During a recent press conference, Trump spoke highly of Musk.
“I respect Elon a lot. He respects me,” he said.
“Elon, more than almost anybody I know, he loves this country. He loves the concept of this country, but like me, he says this country is in big trouble, it’s in tremendous danger.”
Musk has been pictured at events at Mar-a-Lago and the UFC, buddying up with Trump.
Trump selected Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency – a taskforce aimed at cutting bureaucracy.
Trump had even invited TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew to attend his inauguration on Monday.
Upon his return to the White House, Trump quickly signed an executive order to keep the app up and running for 75 days while a buyer is found.
“The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
The President argued that the US should own 50 per cent of the wildly popular app, after his inauguration.
“If I do the deal for the United States, then I think we should get half,” Trump said on Monday.
“In other words wait, I think the US should be entitled to get half of TikTok.
“And congratulations, TikTok has a good partner, and that would be worth, you know, could be $500 billion or something.”