Amazon, OnlyFans Founder Enter Bidding War for TikTok’s U.S. Operations as Ban Deadline Looms

April 3, 2025 – Washington, D.C. – With just two days remaining until a critical deadline that could see TikTok banned in the United States, tech giant Amazon and a consortium led by OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely have emerged as the latest contenders vying to acquire the popular short-video app’s American operations. The flurry of last-minute bids underscores the high stakes surrounding TikTok’s future, as its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, faces mounting pressure to divest or shutter the platform in the U.S. by April 5, 2025.

The New York Times first reported Amazon’s surprise bid on April 2, citing three sources familiar with the negotiations. According to the outlet, Amazon submitted its offer in a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, though skepticism abounds among insiders who question the seriousness of the eleventh-hour proposal (The New York Times, 2025). Reuters confirmed the bid’s existence through a Trump administration official, noting that Amazon’s move aligns with its long-standing ambition to bolster its social media presence—a goal previously pursued through acquisitions like Twitch in 2014 and the short-lived TikTok-inspired Inspire platform (Reuters, 2025).

Meanwhile, Tim Stokely, the entrepreneur behind the adult content platform OnlyFans, has partnered with the Hbar Foundation—a cryptocurrency group managing the Hedera network—to submit a competing bid via his startup, Zoop. Reuters reported on April 2 that Stokely’s consortium aims to reimagine TikTok as a creator-centric platform, leveraging Zoop’s mainstream engagement model (Reuters, 2025). While details of the bid remain undisclosed, Stokely’s involvement adds an unexpected twist to the race, which already includes heavyweights like Oracle, Blackstone, and a $20 billion “People’s Bid” spearheaded by billionaire Frank McCourt and Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary.

The bidding war comes as TikTok teeters on the edge of a nationwide ban, a saga rooted in national security concerns over ByteDance’s Chinese ownership. In April 2024, then-President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan law mandating ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations by January 19, 2025, or face prohibition. The Supreme Court upheld the law’s constitutionality on January 17, 2025, but President Donald Trump, upon taking office, issued an executive order extending the deadline by 75 days to April 5—offering a temporary reprieve (AP News, 2025). Trump has expressed a desire to keep TikTok operational, telling reporters earlier this week, “We have a lot of potential buyers. There’s tremendous interest in TikTok” (NBC News, 2025).

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Amazon’s interest in TikTok is seen as a strategic play to tap into the app’s booming e-commerce ecosystem, notably TikTok Shop, which has become a significant revenue driver. The company’s stock rose 2% following news of the bid, reflecting investor optimism about its potential expansion into social media (Gizmodo, 2025). However, the White House-led talks, as reported by Reuters last month, are focused on spinning off a U.S.-based TikTok entity with Chinese ownership diluted below the 20% threshold required by law—a structure that may complicate outright acquisitions like Amazon’s (Reuters, 2025).

Stokely’s bid, by contrast, emphasizes a vision of creator empowerment, though its reliance on cryptocurrency backing via Hbar has raised eyebrows. Other contenders, such as Oracle and Andreessen Horowitz, are exploring partnerships to carve out TikTok’s U.S. business, while Perplexity AI has pitched a merger emphasizing transparency (Financial Times, 2025). Despite the crowded field, ByteDance has yet to signal whether it will accept any offer, leaving TikTok’s 170 million American users in limbo as the clock ticks down.

As Trump prepares to meet with senior officials today to discuss the app’s fate, the outcome remains uncertain. Analysts suggest that even if no deal is finalized by Saturday, Trump could extend the deadline further—though such a move might test the limits of the 2024 law (Yahoo News, 2025). For now, the battle for TikTok’s U.S. operations pits retail titans against unconventional disruptors, with the future of a cultural juggernaut hanging in the balance.

Sources:

• The New York Times. (2025, April 2). “Amazon Said to Make a Bid to Buy TikTok in the U.S.”

• Reuters. (2025, April 3). “TikTok Bidders Pile Up as Deadline Looms with Amazon, OnlyFans Founder in Mix.”

• AP News. (2025, April 2). “Amazon’s Last-Minute Bid for TikTok Comes as a US Ban on the Platform Is Set to Take Effect Saturday.”

• NBC News. (2025, April 2). “Amazon Joins List of TikTok Suitors as Deadline for a U.S. Buyer Nears.”

• Gizmodo. (2025, April 2). “Amazon and OnlyFans Founder Join the List of TikTok Bidders as Ban Looms.”

• Financial Times. (2025, April 1). [Referenced in Reuters for Andreessen Horowitz and Oracle bid details.]

• Yahoo News. (2025, April 2). “Deadline for TikTok Sale Looms Amid Reports of Separate Bids from Amazon, OnlyFans Founder.”