WASHINGTON — Amazon, in a pitch to avoid an impending ban set to take effect on Saturday, has reportedly submitted a bid to acquire TikTok. This information was disclosed by an unrevealed Trump administration official on Wednesday.

The offer from Amazon was delivered in a letter to Vice President J.D. Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to the official, who spoke anonymously due to lack of authorization to comment publicly.

The New York Times was the first to report on this bid.

President Donald Trump extended a reprieve to the platform on Inauguration Day, countering a Supreme Court decision which mandated the ban for national security reasons.

Read More: What the TikTok Ban Deadline Could Mean for the App’s Future

According to the current law, ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, must sell the platform to an approved buyer or cease operations in the United States. There is speculation that Trump may extend the ban’s deadline, yet he insists on a deal being reached by Saturday.

Amazon has declined to provide comment on the situation. TikTok also has not responded to requests for comment.

This bid by Amazon comes as the looming TikTok sale deadline was to be discussed by Trump with high-ranking officials.

While ByteDance’s intentions regarding TikTok’s sale remain unclear, there have been several potential investors expressing interest in the platform recently.

Read More: Who Might Buy TikTok? From MrBeast to Elon Musk, Here Are the Top Contenders

The merger proposal from Perplexity AI to ByteDance in January sought a combination of its business with TikTok’s U.S. operation. Recently, Perplexity articulated a plan for modernizing TikTok’s algorithm, not aiming for monopolistic practices.

Any acquisition by a consortium could potentially keep ByteDance in control; an acquisition by a competitor might monopolize the short-form video and information space.

Perplexity proposed to adapt the TikTok algorithm and develop the necessary infrastructure within “American data centers with American oversight” to meet domestic privacy standards.

Other candidates for acquiring TikTok include a consortium led by billionaire Frank McCourt, who recently appointed Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian as an advisor. Investors in this consortium have offered ByteDance $20 billion for the U.S. platform. Additionally, Jesse Tinsley, founder of Employer.com, heads a consortium offering over $30 billion, while Wyoming’s Reid Rasner has offered ByteDance approximately $47.5 billion.

The FBI and Federal Communications Commission have raised concerns about ByteDance potentially sharing user data with the Chinese government. TikTok denies these allegations and maintains that it has not and would not share data if requested. The U.S. government has not provided evidence of such data sharing.

Despite his previous skepticism and issuance of executive orders imposing restrictions on ByteDance and WeChat, Trump has millions of followers on TikTok and credits the platform for engaging with young voters.