MW As deadline nears, the latest interest in TikTok comes from this tech name and short-seller target

By Bill Peters

AppLovin says it has expressed interest in exploring a purchase of TikTok in areas outside of China

Digital-advertising platform AppLovin on Thursday became the latest company to express interest in buying TikTok, ahead of an April 5 deadline to avoid a ban in the U.S.

The company, in a filing, said it had provided an "indication of interest" to President Donald Trump to explore buying the popular social-media site "in all markets outside of China." AppLovin (APP) said its interest was preliminary, and that there was no guarantee of a transaction.

The disclosure follows a 260% run higher for AppLovin's shares over the past 12 months. But the company has come under attack from short sellers who have raised questions about practices in its e-commerce business.

The company has said the short-sellers' accusations were "littered with inaccuracies and false assertions." Shares of AppLovin are down 19.1% so far this year.

On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. $(AMZN)$ had made a bid for TikTok. A company led by the founder of the adult-content site OnlyFans has also made a bid for the site. Oracle Corp. $(ORCL)$, which already provides cloud services to TikTok, is also seen as a bidder, according to reports.

TikTok is owned by a company in China called ByteDance. Amid security concerns, U.S. lawmakers passed a measure last year to ban or force a sale of the video app's U.S. business by January. Trump extended the deadline to find a non-Chinese buyer to April 5.

"We view TikTok as one of the biggest and first chips on the poker table around U.S./China relations, which have many complex facets to navigate over the coming years under the Trump administration," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a research note on Tuesday.

-Bill Peters

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April 03, 2025 18:55 ET (22:55 GMT)

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