China considers selling TikTok US to Musk.

(Reuters) According to Bloomberg News on Monday, if the short-video app fails to evade an upcoming ban, Chinese officials are in early discussions about a possible option to sell TikTok’s business in the United States to billionaire Elon Musk.

According to the story, which cited sources, Beijing officials would rather TikTok stay under parent company Bytedance’s management.

According to the article, TikTok’s U.S. operations may be sold through a government agreement or a competitive procedure, indicating that ByteDance no longer has complete control over the app’s destiny.

Several members of Congress have claimed that China’s government has control over Tiktok because of its “golden share” in ByteDance.

In one possibility, TikTok U.S. would be taken over by Musk’s social media platform X, which would then manage the company together, according to the article. Bloomberg News reports that officials are still unable to agree on how to move forward.

According to a TikTok representative, “We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction,” in response to the report.

There is no information on whether ByteDance, TikTok, and Musk have discussed a potential merger, and it is unknown how much ByteDance is aware of the conversations or of Musk and TikTok’s involvement.

According to TikTok, the government’s ownership “has no bearing on ByteDance’s global operations outside of China, including TikTok.”

A request for response from X, Elon Musk, and China’s Ministry of Commerce and Cyberspace was not immediately answered.

Due to national security concerns over China, the Supreme Court appeared likely last week to maintain a statute that would require TikTok to be sold or banned in the United States by January 19.