WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Sunday (Sep 21) that media mogul Lachlan Murdoch and business leaders Larry Ellison and Michael Dell would be involved as US investors in a proposed deal to keep TikTok operating in the United States.
Trump has said that the United States and China have made progress on a deal requiring TikTok’s American assets to be transferred to US owners from China’s ByteDance.
The proposed investors would give Trump allies in corporate America influence over a widely popular social media app, which counts 170 million US users and helps shape public discourse on politics and culture.
Under the expected deal, TikTok’s US assets would be majority-owned by American investors and operated in the United States by a board of directors with national security and cybersecurity credentials, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing a White House official.
ByteDance’s current shareholders include Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic and KKR. ByteDance would hold less than 20 percent of the stock of a joint venture controlling TikTok’s US operations, the official added.
Trump praised the group in an interview with Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing” program, calling them prominent people and “American patriots.”
“I think they’re going to do a really good job,” Trump said, crediting TikTok with helping build his support among young voters in the 2024 presidential election.
Murdoch, the CEO of Fox Corp, recently cemented long-term control of his family’s media empire that includes Fox News and the Wall Street Journal after settling a years-long legal battle with his siblings. The family patriarch, 94-year-old Rupert Murdoch, may also be involved in the deal, Trump said.
