President Donald Trump apparently has no qualms about turning the fate of TikTok into a public bidding war.

When prompted by specific questions from reporters, the new president tossed out some of the biggest names in the tech world as possible buyers of TikTok’s US operations — a deal that would allow the platform to get around a ban imposed by Congress in the name of national security.

Among the names floated so far by Trump are Elon Musk, owner of X; Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle (ORCL); and Microsoft (MSFT). It’s not yet clear if any are involved in actual discussions.

“I like bidding wars because you make your best deals,” Trump said Monday as he spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One.

Trump said he wants a deal done in 30 days. An executive order he signed on his first day in office actually gives TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, until April 4 to figure something out.

Here is a closer look at the big names mentioned by Trump — and others who have also gone public with their bids:

Microsoft
Microsoft, along with Walmart (WMT), made a failed bid for TikTok during Trump’s first term when Trump actually tried to ban the app.

When asked Monday if Microsoft was among the companies interested this time around in an ownership stake, Trump answered in the affirmative: “I would say yes.”

It is not yet known whether Microsoft is actually involved in any talks.

Microsoft’s prior bid in 2020 didn’t go anywhere.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella later said after those discussions fell apart that the federal government had a “particular set of requirements and then it just disappeared.”

He called it the “strangest thing I’ve ever worked on.”

Elon Musk
The Chinese government will certainly have a say in whatever happens. And government officials in that country, according to reports by Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, have discussed selling the social media app’s US business to Musk.

Trump sounded intrigued by the idea when asked about it publicly.

“I would be if he wanted to buy it,” Trump said of Musk, the owner of X when a reporter at the White House wanted to know if he was in favor of such a deal.

But Musk has not spoken on the subject yet, except to say on X, “I have been against a TikTok ban for a long time, because it goes against freedom of speech. That said, the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but X is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced. Something needs to change.”

Antitrust experts predict that Musk could clear US legal hurdles imposed by a TikTok acquisition, which some estimate could amount to $40 billion-$50 billion. One reason is TikTok and X have distinct users.