Donald Trump says he is close to agreeing a TikTok deal, with the US President planning to reveal a buyer “in the coming weeks”. But any deal could require sign-off from China. The US government last year ordered TikTok’s parent ByteDance to find a new owner for the social media company or face a ban, […]
Donald Trump says he is close to agreeing a TikTok deal, with the US President planning to reveal a buyer “in the coming weeks”. But any deal could require sign-off from China.
The US government last year ordered TikTok’s parent ByteDance to find a new owner for the social media company or face a ban, after politicians expressed concerns that private user data could be passed to the Chinese government.
ByteDance denied the accusations, but faced a January 19th deadline to find another buyer, thanks to legislation passed by President Joe Biden and Congress last year.
The app went dark before Trump intervened, extending the deadline initially to June 19, before granting a further extension to September 17.
Trump told Fox News that a buyer, made up of “a group of very wealthy people”, has been found for the popular video app, with a deal expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Among those rumoured to be potential buyers include YouTube superstar Mr Beast, US search engine startup Perplexity AI, and Kevin O’Leary – an investor from Shark Tank.
Any deal will require ByteDance’s approval, which will likely only come if the Chinese government approves it, but Trump said he was confident that Beijing would back the deal.
He told Fox: “I think I’ll probably need China’s approval, I think President Xi will probably do it.”
A previous deal to sell TikTok to an American buyer fell apart in April, when the White House clashed with China over Trump’s tariffs, according to the BBC.
