Amazon and OnlyFans founder place bids to buy TikTok ahead of April 5 deadline

As the U.S. government’s April 5 deadline for TikTok to secure a non-Chinese buyer looms, the list of potential suitors is expanding rapidly. Among the latest contenders are e-commerce giant Amazon and a consortium led by Tim Stokely, the founder of OnlyFans, adding new momentum to a high-stakes race to prevent a U.S. ban on the popular short-video app.

The Biden administration, continuing the national security concerns raised under the Trump presidency, has mandated that TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divest from its U.S. operations. Officials have long expressed fears that the Chinese government could exploit TikTok to collect sensitive data on Americans or spread propaganda. TikTok and ByteDance have denied these allegations.

According to a U.S. administration official, Amazon has submitted a formal letter expressing interest in TikTok to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. While Amazon declined to comment publicly, its stock rose approximately 2% following news of the bid. Analysts suggest that acquiring TikTok could bolster Amazon’s longstanding ambition to build a successful social media platform that resonates with younger audiences. Past efforts include its acquisition of live-streaming service Twitch and the now-discontinued Inspire feed, which mimicked TikTok’s short-form content model.

Separately, Stokely’s startup Zoop has partnered with a cryptocurrency foundation to submit a bid of its own. While the financial structure of the bid remains unclear, the move marks an unconventional entrant into what has largely been a contest among tech giants and private equity players.

Other potential bidders include private equity firm Blackstone, which is in talks to join a consortium of ByteDance’s existing non-Chinese shareholders, and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which is supporting a bid led by Oracle and other American investors. That proposal aims to spin off TikTok’s U.S. business into an entity with less than 20% Chinese ownership — a threshold necessary under current U.S. law to avoid a ban.

Despite Amazon’s last-minute move, some insiders view its bid with skepticism, according to The New York Times. Several parties involved in the negotiations reportedly do not consider Amazon’s involvement a serious threat to more established efforts already in motion.

With nearly half of all Americans using TikTok, the outcome of this deal could reshape the U.S. digital media landscape and set a precedent for tech regulation amid rising geopolitical tensions with China.