Amazon bids to buy TikTok as deadline looms, New York Times reports

Amazon.com has put in a last-minute offer to buy all of short-form video app TikTok, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing three people familiar with the bid.

U.S. President Donald Trump will consider on Wednesday a final proposal related to TikTok ahead of an April 5 deadline for the app to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the country, a White House official told Reuters on Tuesday.

ByteDance and TikTok did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment, and Amazon declined to respond.


Shares of Amazon rose 1.3% in a volume spike after the report.

Various parties who have been involved in the talks do not appear to be taking Amazon's bid seriously, the New York Times said.

The bid came via an offer letter addressed to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the report added.

The future of the app used by nearly half of all Americans has been up in the air since a 2024 law, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, required ByteDance to divest TikTok by January 19.

Washington says TikTok's ownership by ByteDance makes it beholden to the Chinese government, and Beijing could use the app to conduct influence operations against the United States and collect data on Americans.

Trump, after taking office for a second term on January 20, signed an executive order seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of the law, allowing TikTok to continue its operations in the U.S. temporarily.

Since then, several parties have reportedly expressed interest in TikTok, with Trump saying last month that his administration was in touch with four different groups about the sale of the platform.