Donald Trump eyes Elon Musk or Larry Ellison as TikTok buyers 

Former President Donald Trump expressed openness on Tuesday to Elon Musk acquiring TikTok and proposed a bold idea: the United States government jointly owning half of the company.

“I would be, if he wanted to buy it, yes,” Trump said during a White House event unveiling a $500 billion AI infrastructure partnership. The announcement brought together tech leaders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, whom Trump also mentioned as a potential buyer for TikTok.

The remarks came as TikTok faces a government-mandated deadline to divest its American assets. On Monday, Trump issued an executive order delaying enforcement of a ban on the popular app for 75 days. The app briefly shut down over the weekend after the Supreme Court upheld a law requiring TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. operations to continue running in the country.

Trump floated an unusual proposal during his talks with TikTok representatives: a buyer should acquire the platform and grant 50% ownership to the U.S. government. He argued this arrangement would enhance TikTok’s value by securing the “ultimate partner” while offering regulatory benefits to the new owner.

“They’ll have something that’s actually more valuable because they have the ultimate partner,” Trump said. “The United States will make it very worthwhile for them in terms of permits and everything else.”

Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, emerged as a potential buyer amid the legal battle, while Ellison, whose company Oracle already hosts TikTok’s servers, was also floated as a viable option.

When asked if he used TikTok, Trump replied, “No, but I think I might put it there,” adding, “We won the young vote. I think I won it through TikTok.” Despite this confidence, exit polls showed former Vice President Kamala Harris leading among voters under 30, with 54% compared to Trump’s 43%.

* USA Today contributed to this article.