Tesla (TSLA) stock jumped more than 6% Friday amid speculation that CEO Elon Musk could potentially buy TikTok. The social media platform needs to find an American buyer, or it will effectively face a countrywide ban starting next week — and Musk seems the most likely candidate.

The US Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal from TikTok to overturn a federal law effectively banning the social media platform. The ban would penalize major companies for offering TikTok in their app stores. It’s set to take effect Jan. 19 unless TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance sells the app to an American owner, per a federal law signed by President Joe Biden in 2024, which cited national security concerns related to the platform.

“We believe ByteDance and ultimately Beijing is looking at the possibility that Musk/X could buy the US TikTok operations,” wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a note to investors. “Beijing/Xi Jinping has a strong relationship with Musk so there would be added comfort in this deal/potential partnership to avoid a TikTok ban in our view.”

Even before Ives tossed his thoughts into the mix, Bloomberg this week reported that Chinese officials were exploring such an option, citing unnamed sources. Bloomberg’s sources said Beijing preferred TikTok remain under ByteDance rather than selling it to Musk. TikTok denied the claim, calling the report “pure fiction.”

In the meantime, Trump has vowed to “save” the app. Trump has several avenues of action he could take to fend off a TikTok ban. For example, he could push Congress to repeal the ban or extend the deadline for the TikTok sale.

“We continue to believe Musk will be heavily involved in finding a solution for TikTok and ultimately could build a consortium to buy TikTok,” Ives wrote, believing its price tag to be in the $40 billion to $50 billion range.

Musk has become a close ally of Trump over the course of his campaign and even scored a quasi-governmental position heading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, an extragovernmental agency that will aim to cut federal spending. Since Trump’s election win in early November, Tesla shares have soared 74% as part of the so-called Trump trade.

Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @laurabratton.bsky.social. Email her at laura.bratton@yahooinc.com.

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