President Trump said Sunday that a group of prominent U.S. investors, including Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch and Michael Dell, is expected to participate in a deal to bring TikTok under American control. The remarks add new intrigue to negotiations that have been underway since Congress passed a bipartisan bill requiring the app’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, to divest or face a U.S. ban.
The exact terms of the potential agreement remain uncertain. Questions still surround who would take majority control, the structure of the investment, the price tag, and the leadership of the new entity. A person familiar with the talks has indicated that Fox Corp., rather than the Murdochs personally, may be the party involved.
Trump also pointed to Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, private equity firm Silver Lake, and other investors as likely participants. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Oracle would play a role in overseeing TikTok’s U.S. data, while ByteDance would retain a minority stake of less than 20 percent. A majority of the new board is expected to be American.
The plan under discussion would migrate U.S. users to a separate version of the app, developed by TikTok engineers, which would maintain its recommendation algorithm while operating independently of ByteDance.
Trump’s disclosure of the Murdochs’ possible role comes as he is simultaneously suing Rupert Murdoch over Wall Street Journal coverage of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, underscoring the unusual dynamics around the deal.
While Trump has repeatedly stated that Chinese regulators approved the sale, the White House has offered few concrete details, suggesting only that an agreement could be finalized “in the coming days.”
Source: Axios