Trump Just Extended a Deadline That Lets You Invest In Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and More
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John Schmoll
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Jenna Klaverweiden
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For years, the U.S. government has wanted to ban the use of TikTok by Americans. In April 2024, President Joe Biden signed legislation calling on TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, to sell to a U.S. owner. A sale never came to fruition, but numerous bans have been proposed since, with the most recent one of April 5 being extended by President Donald Trump. And with that extension, there’s an opportunity to invest in some potential buyers.
Various players have announced their interest in purchasing the social media app, recently estimated to be worth $100 billion, and still have a chance to do so.
Also see the alternative Mark Cuban has proposed for TikTok.
What Could Happen in the Long Term
Trump’s extension of the ban gives interested parties until June 19 to secure an agreement before the app goes dark for Americans. The government believes the app presents a national security threat, thus the call for a ban or sale to an American entity.
Trump may have a vested interest in the app’s sale, given that Trump Media owns Truth Social, a competitor of TikTok, and he’s leading the negotiation of a deal. The tariffs on China could put potential deals at risk. However, there is vast interest in purchasing TikTok by various American business people and companies.
Most Americans don’t have the resources to purchase TikTok and take advantage of its 170 million users in the U.S., but they can invest in some of the top candidates to buy the app and potentially reap benefits.
Elon Musk
Trump is on record as being okay with a purchase of TikTok by Elon Musk, according to CNBC. Being the richest person in the world, Musk can make a bid. When asked about his openness to the prospect of Musk buying the app, Trump responded, “I would be if he wanted to buy it, yes.”
Purchasing Tesla (TSLA) stock is the clear choice to invest in Musk. Interested Americans can also look at companies Musk may partner with or purchase in the near future.
Jeff Bezos
Amazon offered a last-minute bid to purchase TikTok in early April. The retail giant had over $101 billion cash on hand at the end of 2024, according to Yahoo Finance, so the company has the means.
The obvious choice to invest in Jeff Bezos is to purchase stock in Amazon (AMZN). Bezos also actively invests in or owns numerous companies, including Nextdoor (KIND).
Mr. Beast
Mr. Beast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) is perhaps the most intriguing option to purchase TikTok. In a recent post on X, Donaldson said, “Okay fine, I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned.” He followed up that tweet by indicating a handful of billionaires contacted him to express interest in joining a consortium to purchase TikTok.
There’s no direct way to invest in Mr. Beast, as none of his products, including Feastables and MrBeast Burger, are publicly traded. However, his “Beast Games” streams on Prime Video. Investors could consider investing in stocks like Roku (ROKU) or Comcast (CMCSA), as those may experience an upside as an indirect result.
Kevin O’Leary
Famed “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary is another potential candidate to purchase TikTok. O’Leary has joined forces with Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to purchase the app for a proposed $20 billion. The purchase would not include the app’s algorithm, according to CNBC.
There is no way to directly invest in O’Leary, but purchasing shares of Reddit (RDDT) could provide a way to benefit if the group is successful.
Microsoft
Microsoft is another potential player to buy TikTok. The company was a lead bidder to acquire the platform in 2020, but it never happened. Trump recently stated that Microsoft was in talks again to buy TikTok.
The clear opportunity for interested investors is to purchase Microsoft (MSFT) stock. Purchasing shares of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) or mutual fund that includes the company is another option.
Time will tell what will happen with TikTok. Americans may not have the means to purchase the app, but they can invest in potential bidders for it and reap the benefits.
Editor’s note on political coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on GOBankingRates.com.
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