By Dana Mattioli, Jessica Toonkel and Alex Leary

Mobile technology company AppLovin has made a bid for TikTok and talked to casino magnate Steve Wynn about backing it, according to people familiar with the matter, joining a flurry of suitors for the video-sharing app.

The Trump administration's April 5 deadline to sell or shut down TikTok is fast-approaching, and the president was briefed Wednesday on a framework that would keep it operational.

The administration has talked to a coterie of U.S. investors including asset manager BlackRock and venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, the people said. The administration is working to preserve a popular app that helped Trump get elected, but has raised national security concerns.

Trump's Wednesday meeting played out just before he launched new global tariffs, including a new 34% additional hike on China, ratcheting up the tension with Beijing just as he will need the country to approve any TikTok deal. Trump has said publicly he is willing to negotiate tariffs with countries and mentioned that he would consider linking China's tariffs to a better deal for TikTok.

AppLovin, which some analysts have said could be the next TikTok because of its powerful artificial intelligence that can collect data on app users and use it to tailor ads, has a market cap of $100 billion. AppLovin's pitch to the Trump administration, which would be funded by Wynn, was that it could solve national security concerns and unleash economic growth as a job creator, according to a person familiar with the matter. Wynn couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The president is expected to review a plan in which cloud computing company Oracle, along with several others, would join with existing U.S. investors to make an offer to TikTok-owner ByteDance, according to people familiar with the matter. Private-equity firms Silver Lake and Blackstone are among the investors in talks to potentially participate in a deal, the people said.

Amazon.com also submitted a last-minute bid, according to people familiar with the matter. It came via an offer letter addressed to Vice President JD Vance and Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, people briefed on it said. The New York Times earlier reported on the bid.

Various parties who have been involved in the talks said the White House doesn't view Amazon's bid as one that is likely to progress, the people said. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.

Authorities in Beijing have signaled that China would be open to a deal, but see it as part of a cluster of issues it hopes to negotiate with Washington, including tariffs, according to people familiar with the government's thinking.

Vance, Lutnick, Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard were in attendance at the Wednesday meeting to discuss a potential TikTok deal. The details of the plan and how the company might operate after such a deal are expected to be determined later, some of the people familiar with the plans said.

Write to Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com, Jessica Toonkel at jessica.toonkel@wsj.com and Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 02, 2025 18:43 ET (22:43 GMT)

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