“The potential buyer must have a lot of money and the ability to handle the situation,” said Jasmine Enberg, principal analyst at eMarketer. While many will want to own the coveted app, most won't be able to clear the antitrust hurdle.”

The sale of Tiktok seems to be a matter of time. Because the Biden administration passed a law last Wednesday to ban the app in the United States.

In this case, to sustain TikTok in the country, the owner company ByteDance has to sell it. However, the company plans to go to court to challenge the law. But if this effort fails, the company may need to quickly find a suitable buyer.

So the question arises as to who exactly can buy the hugely popular app used by 170 million Americans. In this case, the country's government is also thinking about who has a good eye. Where the app is currently taking on tech giants like Meta.

There is certainly not much insight into TikTok's potential buyers right now. But some companies are ahead of others, say legal experts and business analysts.

Meta is already fighting a case with the Federal Trade Commission regarding its purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram. The company is accused of violating US antitrust laws.

Google, on the other hand, is essentially fighting the antitrust case on two fronts. In this case, one is related to search and the other is related to advertising technology business. In that case, the tech giant is lagging behind the competition in buying TikTok.

Jean Kimmelman, a former Justice Department antitrust official, said, "If Amazon, Microsoft, Google, or Meta come up as buyers, I think there will be antitrust concerns."

"But you can name Intel, Cisco, Oracle. Even Verizon or AT&T. They're probably not that big of a problem," he added.

Jasmine Enberg, chief analyst at eMarketer, notes a paradox in this regard. According to him, only the biggest and most influential tech giants can buy TikTok. But they may also be the biggest source of skepticism for regulatory agencies.

Enberg added, "The potential buyer must have a lot of money and the ability to handle the situation. While many will want to own the coveted app, most won't be able to clear the antitrust hurdle."

Microsoft recently attempted to buy video game publisher Activision Blizzard in one of the largest technology mergers in history. During this time, they were scrutinized by a lot of mistrust. But in the end it was able to avoid the case.

Inspired by this success, Microsoft may take the opportunity to buy TikTok. The company owns LinkedIn, a social network designed for professionals. But they don't have any apps like TikTok in their portfolio.

When President Donald Trump first pushed for the sale of TikTok in 2020, the app was one of Microsoft's top buys. Even Walmart's name came up in the discussion. The company then said it was partnering with Microsoft on a potential deal.

But then there was a positive change in the situation with TikTok agreeing to work with Oracle under Project Texas. Through which the initiative is taken by TikTok to store the data of Americans on servers owned by Oracle. In doing so, they were able to temporarily satisfy US national security concerns.

After four years, TikTok is back in trouble. At the same time, Project Texas has lost much of its relevance. As a result, former potential buyers are again shaken; Oracle has also been added to this list.

In this case, Steven Mnuchin, the former Treasury Secretary of the Trump administration, surprised everyone with his initiative. He announced last month that he was putting together a group of investors to buy TikTok.

However, Mnuchin has already come under criticism. Because he led the Trump administration's initial efforts to ban TikTok. He then publicly stated that TikTok was collecting user data.

Now Mnuchin is looking to buy the app himself. In that case, many critics see it as a conflict of interest.

Mnuchin could become Trump's rival if he buys TikTok. The former US president is the chairman and leading shareholder of Truth Social Media.

Among other businessmen who have expressed interest is Kevin O'Leary, Canadian chairman of private venture capital firm O'Leary Ventures. In that case, he can fetch 20 to 30 billion.