Elon Musk has firmly denied any involvement or interest in acquiring TikTok during his recent statements at a summit in late January. The Tesla CEO explicitly stated, "I have not put in a bid for TikTok," and confirmed he has no plans for the platform.

Photo Credit: Debbie Rowe / CC by 4.0

Musk emphasized his preference for building companies from scratch rather than acquiring them, noting that he rarely pursues acquisitions. He also revealed that he doesn't personally use TikTok and is unfamiliar with its format.

While Musk remains uninvolved, ByteDance is currently working to navigate around potential App Store restrictions. The company has developed a side-loadable version for Android devices, though this approach could face challenges under President Biden's new law, which imposes $5,000 fines per download.

Several other parties have expressed interest in acquiring TikTok's U.S. operations, including:

• President Trump, who proposed incorporating it into a new U.S. sovereign wealth fund
• Frank McCourt
• Kevin O'Leary
• Steven Mnuchin
• Perplexity AI

For context, while Musk is known for his entrepreneurial ventures, his successful companies include SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and xAI. His involvement with Tesla began as an investor in 2003, later becoming CEO in 2008 after investing $80 million to save the company from bankruptcy during the financial crisis.

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