Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) just crashed the TikTok partyalongside an unexpected bid from the founder of OnlyFansand the timing couldn’t be juicier. With an April 5 deadline looming, pressure is on for ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban. Amazon is reportedly making a late-stage move to acquire the app, reigniting its long-standing ambition to build a social media ecosystem. Meanwhile, Tim Stokely, now heading up a new creator-first platform called Zoop, has teamed up with crypto-backed Hbar Foundation in a bid that aims to flip the script: shift control to creators and give them a bigger cut of the value they generate. The Zoop team has already sent its proposal to the White Housejust as investor interest hits a fever pitch.

Behind the scenes, the U.S. government is running what’s essentially a high-stakes M&A auction. Vice President JD Vance is coordinating with multiple investor groups, including a consortium backed by Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and private equity names like Blackstone and Andreessen Horowitz. Their goal? Carve TikTok out from ByteDance and bring Chinese ownership below the 20% legal threshold. For now, four groups remain in talks, and insiders suggest there could still be flexibility on the deadline if needed. But time is running outand markets are watching. The potential buyers aren’t just chasing users; they’re betting on control of one of the most powerful digital influence machines on the planet.

Amazon’s bid signals more than just a defensive moveit’s a long-term play to own the next generation of attention. Having shelved its own TikTok-like feature earlier this year, this could be its second shot at building a youth-focused social layer on top of its commerce engine. Zoop, on the other hand, brings a decentralized vision that rewards creators with a majority share of revenuesbacked by blockchain rails and a Web3 ethos. Whether TikTok ends up inside Big Tech’s empire or reborn as a creator-led ecosystem, this bidding war isn’t just about ownershipit’s about rewriting the future of how culture, data, and commerce collide.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

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