Billionaire Elon Musk, who heads the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), denied rumors of his interest in buying the social network TikTok, Bloomberg reported.
“I have not made any offers to buy TikTok“, Musk said during a speech at a conference in Germany organized by the head of the media conglomerate Axel Springer, Matthias Döpfner. This was his first comment on the possible deal.
“I have no plans what I would do if I owned TikTok“, he added. “I'm in no hurry to buy TikTok“, he said, noting that he prefers to build companies from scratch. Meanwhile, in 2022, he bought the social network Twitter, which he later renamed X.
Musk also said that he himself does not use TikTok.
Former US President Joe Biden signed a law in 2024 forcing the Chinese corporation ByteDance to sell or terminate TikTok's operations in the US by January 19, 2025. US President Donald Trump, after taking office on January 20, postponed blocking the platform. The Republican told reporters that the United States should have "the right to half of TikTok", but did not explain what this means.
According to the television company CNBC, the US administration is selecting potential candidates to buy 50% of TikTok's shares. The main contenders are SpaceX, Tesla and X owner Elon Musk and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. In late January, Trump said Microsoft was also interested in buying the service.