STORY: TikTok’s fate in the U.S. remains up in the air. Reuters sources said Sunday that Perplexity AI has submitted a new merger proposal to the video app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance. That would create a new entity combining TikTok’s U.S. operations with the search engine startup. The proposal calls for the U.S. government to own up to 50% of the new company upon a future share offering. But that’s just one of many possibilities that could be in play. Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he was talking to numerous parties: “I have spoken to many people about TikTok and there is great interest in TikTok, and as you know I have the right to sell it or close, depending on what I think is best for the country.”Trump said he would would probably make a decision over the next 30 days. Earlier, Reuters reported that the administration is working on a plan to tap Oracle for a deal. The U.S. tech giant already provides the foundation for TikTok’s Web infrastructure. At an event last week, Trump said he’d be happy to see TikTok sold to Tesla boss Elon Musk – or Oracle chief Larry Ellison, who was standing alongside him at the time: REPORTER: “Are you open to Elon (Musk) buying TikTok?”TRUMP: “I would be if he wanted to buy it, yeah. I’d like Larry to buy it, too. I have the right to make a deal.”The Reuters sources say the terms of any Oracle deal remain very fluid, and Trump says he hasn’t actually spoken to Ellison about it. U.S. billionaire Frank McCourt is another to express an interest. “Well, the bid we put in was for all of U.S. TikTok without the Chinese technology.”Speaking to Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he said he could team up with others on a bid, and had already been approached with financing offers. TikTok had faced a ban in the U.S. over national security concerns, but has been reprieved by Trump while he decides on a course of action.