Musk: Beijing's acceptable ally
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Talk of a possible sale of TikTok's U.S. assets to Elon Musk reflects his increasingly powerful stance as a power broker at the nexus of U.S.-China relations.
Why it matters: Beijing-based TikTok owner ByteDance faces a Jan. 19 deadline to sell the video platform's U.S. business or stop updating the app, which would eventually make it obsolete.
Driving the news: Bloomberg reported late Monday — and the Wall Street Journal hours later — that Chinese officials have held internal discussions about green-lighting a sale to Musk.
- Musk — the world's richest person and the owner of X — hasn't said whether he's interested.
- TikTok called the idea "pure fiction."
The big picture: That China might even consider entrusting a prized asset like TikTok in Musk's hands illustrates how much influence he retains there.
- As Trump's self-proclaimed "First Buddy" and adviser, Musk could serve as a go-between to help resolve disputes between China and the U.S. during Trump's second term.
- "Musk could be the good cop with China, while Trump is the bad cop," University of Michigan business professor Erik Gordon tells Axios. "And Musk has every reason to play that role because Musk has a big stake in good relations with China."
Case in point: Tesla has a factory in Shanghai and gets about 37% of its sales from China, according to Evercore ISI estimates.
- So if China were to retaliate against the U.S. over tariffs, TikTok or other Trump policies, Tesla would make a convenient target — especially now that Musk is so close to the incoming president.
Yes, but: "It's also possible that instead of an outright sale this results in a joint partnership with Musk playing a major role and helping avoid a true ban of TikTok in the US," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote Tuesday.
What we're watching: Trump has said he doesn't want the bipartisan TikTok ban to take effect, but the U.S. Supreme Court appears unlikely to stop it. He had previously asked for an opportunity to "pursue a political resolution" of the questions at issue in the case.
- Musk said in April that he opposes the ban, "even though such a ban may benefit the X platform."
