AppLovin and Amazon rumoured among potential TikTok buyers ahead of April 5th deadline

AppLovin is rumoured to be among the companies looking to acquire TikTok, people familiar with the matter told CNBC’s David Faber.

Sources claimed that the California-based tech firm is in negotiations to potentially acquire the social media giant days ahead of its possible ban - scheduled for April 5th if not sold to a US company.

US President Donald Trump previously reverted and delayed the January ban after re-entering office. The brief ban also saw Second Dinner’s Marvel Snap and Moonton’s Mobile Legends caught in the crossfire through their games' connections to TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance.

According to sources, the Trump administration is "fully aware" of AppLovin’s TikTok interest.

Potential buyers

ByteDance is required to divest its social media app’s US operations by Saturday this week in order to maintain TikTok’s availability in the country. It has been argued that a sale is necessary for US security.

It appears that multiple large US companies in the country have made offers for a chance to take ownership of TikTok’s US operations, therefore, including Amazon. In Amazon’s case specifically, The New York Times was informed by sources that the bid is for all of TikTok, which some noted did not appear to be considered seriously by ByteDance.

If no deal is reached by this weekend, Trump could theoretically sign another executive order to delay the ban further, although Reuters reported on his statement to reporters that there is "tremendous interest in TikTok" and there are "a lot of potential buyers".