DIGIVESTASI – United States (US) President Donald Trump expressed his openness to billionaire Elon Musk's plan to acquire TikTok. Trump also proposed that the United States should own half of the company.

“I will support him if he wants to buy it,” Trump told reporters after announcing a private-sector infrastructure partnership focused on artificial intelligence (AI) with leading technology figures, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, as reported by USA Today on Thursday (01/23/2025).

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has emerged as a potential candidate to purchase TikTok just days before the app faced the threat of being shut down. On Monday, January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending the ban on the popular video-sharing app for 75 days.

TikTok was briefly shut down for more than 12 hours on Saturday night after the Supreme Court ruled that its parent company, ByteDance, must sell TikTok's US assets in order to continue operating in the country.

In addition to Musk, Trump also stated that he was open to other technology companies acquiring TikTok. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison was present at the White House for the announcement of a $500 billion AI infrastructure partnership between the Trump administration and OpenAI, Softbank, and Oracle.

“I have the authority to make deals. Let’s negotiate openly,” Trump said to Ellison.