Musk dismisses TikTok acquisition rumors, says he prefers to build companies from scratch

[midian182]

In a nutshell: The question of who will buy TikTok's US operations is still being debated, but it appears that Elon Musk – one of the previous favorites and a person put forward by Donald Trump – won't be adding another platform to his list of businesses. The world's richest person claims he is not interested in purchasing the app, adding that he usually builds companies "from scratch." The news has been welcomed by another potential buyer, Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast.

It was reported in January that the Chinese government was considering selling TikTok's US assets to Musk. The DOGE leader has a good relationship with China, having praised the country on several occasions. The Tesla factory in Shanghai also nets him plenty of goodwill from officials.

The fact that Donald Trump said he was open to the possibility of Musk or Oracle boss Larry Ellison buying TikTok was another hint that the app would be joining X in Musk's stable. However, it's been revealed that Musk said he isn't interested in the acquisition.

On Saturday, comments Musk made were released online by The WELT Group, part of the German media company Axel Springer SE, which hosted an economic summit in late January attended by Musk.

"I have not put in a bid for TikTok," Musk said. "I'm not chomping at the bit to acquire TikTok, I do not acquire companies in general, it's quite rare," he added. "I usually build companies from scratch."

Musk went on to explain that he does not use TikTok personally and is not familiar with its format.

Musk's statement that he does not acquire companies and builds them from scratch obviously raises questions about Twitter, now X, which he acquired in October 2022 for $44 billion.

Musk compared buying Twitter to a potential TikTok purchase by saying he bought the former as a way to "preserve freedom of speech." He said he's not sure if the same logic could be applied to TikTok because the only reason behind an acquisition would be financial, in his opinion.

In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the 𝕏 platform.

Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2024

In January, Musk wrote that he has been against the TikTok ban because it goes against freedom of speech. He also said that the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America but X is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced, and something needs to change.

YouTube (and Amazon) star MrBeast is believed to be interested in buying TikTok as part of an investment group led by Jesse Tinsley, founder and CEO of Employer.com. He replied to a message about Musk confirming he wasn't going after the app with a single word: "Phew."

Phew

– MrBeast (@MrBeast) February 8, 2025

TikTok's future in the United States remains uncertain. Trump has issued an executive order delaying its ban, which stems from the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, by 75 days, extending the deadline to April 4, 2025. However, the app remains absent from the US Apple and Google stores.

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Musk dismisses TikTok acquisition rumors, says he prefers to build companies from scratch

 

[The Talking Tech]

He prefers to build companies from scratch???

Ha ha ha

As he bought Twitter turning it into a ces.X.pool

 

[yRaz]

He prefers to build companies from scratch???

Ha ha ha

As he bought Twitter turning it into a ces.X.pool

He was forced to buy Twitter by the FTC

 

[JamesBlond]

Or to buy Broken ones run by *****s and fix them to be good working models

 

[SirDigby]

He was forced to buy Twitter by the FTC

He was forced to buy twitter because he made a legally binding offer to buy twitter and changed his mind after and they accepted the offer. The way you say that makes it sound like the FTC just chose a random guy and said 'buy this thing'.

 

[The Talking Tech]

He was forced to buy Twitter by the FTC

Actions have consequences....he intended to buy it, then he tried to ruin Twitter's stock value by trying to back out.

Now as a government "special" employee everyone will see the consequences of his actions.

 

[MaXtor]

He prefers to build companies from scratch???

Ha ha ha

As he bought Twitter turning it into a ces.X.pool

Also bought his way into Tesla, erased the founders from history and named himself founder.

 

[lonetac]

He has never built anything from scratch. Not a single company.

Paypal, didnt create it.
Twitter, Spacex, tesla, all purchased.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Also bought his way into Tesla, erased the founders from history and named himself founder.

But the Elon Musk's apologists would never admit that.....He truly gives people with autism a very bad reputation.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

He has never built anything from scratch. Not a single company.

Paypal, didnt create it.
Twitter, Spacex, tesla, all purchased.

-Hey hey hey... I'm pretty sure he founded The Boring Company.

Pretty. Uh. Sure.

 

[nnguy2]

-Hey hey hey... I'm pretty sure he founded The Boring Company.

Pretty. Uh. Sure.

And it dug itself a hole and died there

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

He prefers to build companies from scratch???

Ha ha ha

As he bought Twitter turning it into a ces.X.pool

Twitter was the one exception that I know of. He had talked about how much he loved it for years and even joked about being interested in buying it:

https://twitter.com/x/status/943902052542849024

He has never built anything from scratch. Not a single company.

Paypal, didnt create it.
Twitter, Spacex, tesla, all purchased.

Besides Twitter, what did these companies do before Elon Musk got involved? Nothing. SpaceX he founded, he did not buy. With Tesla there were three "employees," they looked for funding, and eight months later they got it from Elon Musk who was involved ever since. I'd love to know what Tesla built before him. PayPal was the result of a merger of X.com (which Elon Musk created) and Confinity. They had built the same product (sending money via an email address), and thus half of the company was built by Elon Musk.

Other companies that Elon Musk created: Zip2 (later sold), Neuralink, The Boring Company, xAI, and OpenAI (stepped away from). Obviously OpenAI he didn't continue with for long (three years), but your claim is wrong besides buying Twitter.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

And it dug itself a hole and died there

It's still operating lol. They're building tunnels under Las Vegas and improving the efficiency of the tunneling technology at the same time. They have 7 stations open, and one was opened last month:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1880485610940670265

 

[nnguy2]

It's still operating lol. They're building tunnels under Las Vegas and improving the efficiency of the tunneling technology at the same time. They have 7 stations open, and one was opened last month:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1880485610940670265

LOL it's dead. That's less than a few miles. You make it sound like this is some engineering feat. They were able to build the Chunnel over 40 yrs ago for crying out loud.

 

[MasterMace]

"I usually build companies from scratch." -Man who hasn't built anything from scratch, but instead bought into those companies

 

[yRaz]

He was forced to buy twitter because he made a legally binding offer to buy twitter and changed his mind after and they accepted the offer. The way you say that makes it sound like the FTC just chose a random guy and said 'buy this thing'.

This is a gross over simplification of what happened.

Actions has consequences....he intended to buy it, then he tried to ruin Twitter's stock value by trying to back out.

Now as a government "special" employee everyone will see the consequences of his actions.

He intended to buy it because of the value Twitter said it was worth. He made his bid based on the "due diligence" phase where he reviewed the information they released to the public. Later, it was revealed that twitters numbers were inaccurate. The lawsuit was basically, Musk couldn't do his due diligence because the numbers twitter was providing about their value was inaccurate.

Essentially twitter was committing fraud and Musk dropped his bid after the fraud was discovered but the FTC forced him to buy twitter anyway

 

[Eldrach]

LOL it's dead. That's less than a few miles. You make it sound like this is some engineering feat. They were able to build the Chunnel over 40 yrs ago for crying out loud.

It is actually quite popular

 

[mcnabney]

And it dug itself a hole and died there

Correct. The Boring Company is the only business he actually founded. And it shows.

 

[mcnabney]

It's still operating lol. They're building tunnels under Las Vegas and improving the efficiency of the tunneling technology at the same time. They have 7 stations open, and one was opened last month:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1880485610940670265

They have only ever dug one tunnel (the one in Vegas) if you don't count a few test tunnels. It is a novelty company. The tunnels require EV vehicles because they are relatively unventilated. There is nothing noteworthy with The Boring Company.

 

[Dr Roboto]

Essentially twitter was committing fraud and Musk dropped his bid after the fraud was discovered but the FTC forced him to buy twitter anyway

Look, there’s some evidence that Twitter had more bots than they admitted, but there’s zero proof that Musk’s claim of 20%+ bots was accurate. Independent researchers had already estimated bot numbers ranging from 5-15%, depending on how you define them. So yeah, Twitter likely downplayed the issue, but Musk absolutely exaggerated it. Let’s be real, he only started making a big deal about bots after the stock market tanked and the deal wasn’t looking so great for him anymore.

If Musk genuinely believed the bot problem was that bad, he could have demanded an independent audit before signing BUT he didn’t. Instead, he waived due diligence and rushed into the deal. Then, when it became clear that he might be overpaying, he suddenly started crying about bots. That’s not the move of someone who was “duped”. It’s a guy trying to backpedal and weasel out of a deal he regretted.

So yeah, Twitter wasn’t 100% honest about bots, but Musk knew what he was getting into. The bot excuse was, at least in part, a legal tactic to either back out or renegotiate. In the end, he got caught in his own mess and had to follow through.

 

[nnguy2]

Look, there’s some evidence that Twitter had more bots than they admitted, but there’s zero proof that Musk’s claim of 20%+ bots was accurate. Independent researchers had already estimated bot numbers ranging from 5-15%, depending on how you define them. So yeah, Twitter likely downplayed the issue, but Musk absolutely exaggerated it. Let’s be real, he only started making a big deal about bots after the stock market tanked and the deal wasn’t looking so great for him anymore.

If Musk genuinely believed the bot problem was that bad, he could have demanded an independent audit before signing BUT he didn’t. Instead, he waived due diligence and rushed into the deal. Then, when it became clear that he might be overpaying, he suddenly started crying about bots. That’s not the move of someone who was “duped”. It’s a guy trying to backpedal and weasel out of a deal he regretted.

So yeah, Twitter wasn’t 100% honest about bots, but Musk knew what he was getting into. The bot excuse was, at least in part, a legal tactic to either back out or renegotiate. In the end, he got caught in his own mess and had to follow through.

It was never about bots just like it was never about the price of eggs.

 

[RudyBob]

Last week Musk and DOGE found 60 million was spent to house illegals in a NY hotel. I'd say the man is great at all his decisions

 

[Dr Roboto]

Love or hate the guy, he's been a prolific entrepreneur and a driving force behind some of the most groundbreaking companies of the last 25+ years.

Info from from ChatGPT, so take it with a grain of salt.

=== Companies Elon Musk Started from Scratch ===

1. Zip2 (1995)
- What it did: Online business directory and mapping service.
- Outcome: Sold to Compaq for $307 million in 1999.
- Musk’s Role: Co-founder and CEO.

2. X.com (1999) → Became PayPal
- What it did: Online banking and payments.
- Outcome: Merged with Confinity in 2000, rebranded as PayPal, and sold to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002.
- Musk’s Role: Founder, but was forced out before the PayPal rebrand.

3. SpaceX (2002)
- What it does: Private spaceflight, rockets, and Starlink satellites.
- Current Status: Leading in commercial space travel and NASA contracts.
- Musk’s Role: Founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer.

4. OpenAI (2015)
- What it does: Artificial intelligence research (creators of ChatGPT).
- Current Status: Became a for-profit company after Musk left.
- Musk’s Role: Co-founder, but left the board in 2018 due to disagreements.

5. Neuralink (2016)
- What it does: Brain-computer interface technology.
- Current Status: In human trial phase.
- Musk’s Role: Co-founder.

6. The Boring Company (2016)
- What it does: Tunnel construction and underground transportation.
- Current Status: Built projects like the Las Vegas Loop.
- Musk’s Role: Founder and CEO.

7. xAI (2023)
- What it does: AI company developing TruthGPT, an alternative to OpenAI.
- Current Status: Still in development.
- Musk’s Role: Founder.

=== Companies Musk Bought or Took Over ===

1. Tesla (Joined in 2004, Became CEO in 2008)
- Founded by: Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003.
- Musk’s Entry: Led Series A investment in 2004, became CEO in 2008, and eventually forced out the original founders.
- Why It’s Controversial: Musk did not start Tesla, but he took over early enough that most people associate it with him.

2. SolarCity (Bought in 2016)
- Founded by: Musk’s cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive, in 2006.
- Musk’s Entry: Tesla acquired it for $2.6 billion in 2016 and merged it into Tesla Energy.
- Why It’s Controversial: Musk was heavily involved from the start, but critics argue he used Tesla funds to bail out a struggling company he was personally invested in.

3. Twitter → Now X (Bought in 2022)
Founded by: Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in 2006.
Musk’s Entry: Bought for $44 billion in 2022, became owner and CEO (briefly).
Why It’s Controversial: Musk tried to back out of the deal, citing bot concerns, but was legally forced to complete the purchase after a court battle.

 

[Dr Roboto]

Looking over his list of companies, it is clear that he has a thing for the letter "X".
- X.com
- SpaceX
- X
- xAI

 

[lonetac]

Twitter was the one exception that I know of. He had talked about how much he loved it for years and even joked about being interested in buying it:

https://twitter.com/x/status/943902052542849024

Besides Twitter, what did these companies do before Elon Musk got involved? Nothing. SpaceX he founded, he did not buy. With Tesla there were three "employees," they looked for funding, and eight months later they got it from Elon Musk who was involved ever since. I'd love to know what Tesla built before him. PayPal was the result of a merger of X.com (which Elon Musk created) and Confinity. They had built the same product (sending money via an email address), and thus half of the company was built by Elon Musk.

Other companies that Elon Musk created: Zip2 (later sold), Neuralink, The Boring Company, xAI, and OpenAI (stepped away from). Obviously OpenAI he didn't continue with for long (three years), but your claim is wrong besides buying Twitter.

fair enough, thanks for keeping me honest. I apologize for my mistake.

I dont think Musk has contributed anything meaningful to his companies other than a bank account though.

He isnt engineering rockets or designing satelites, developing green tech. Folks are doing it for him and they largely want him not involved.

In fact, most of his wealth comes from heavily handed government contracts and funding. Without the US government, his two biggest companies wouldnt be where they are.

Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, received more than $100 million in federal loans and taxpayer subsidies since FY 2000, and has won nearly $19.8 billion in federal contracts since 2008. (sounds like DOGE should trim this fat but thats my opinion and its obvious this is terrible government spending when it should be used for housing, health care, infrastructure, etc).

Not to mention the subsidies for tesla from the government.

He destroyed twitter, its barely profitable according to musk and advertises abandoned.

Paypal forced him out, they hated working with him and called him incompetant which resonates with many folks experiences with him and what we saw with twitter.