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United States President Donald Trump has confirmed a plan to sell video-based social media platform TikTok’s US operations to a consortium of American investors after the Chinese president signalled his approval for the deal.
Trump signed an executive order on the deal on Thursday, which the White House valued at US$14 billion ($21.4 billion), without explaining how the figure was determined.
TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, currently values itself at more than US$330 billion ($505 billion). TikTok contributes a small percentage of the company’s total revenue.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is reportedly part of the deal and would be joined by “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors”, Trump said.
Protecting US assets
Trump’s efforts to sell the TikTok assets aim to address national security requirements outlined in a 2024 law and would allow for greater control over how TikTok’s algorithm functions in the US.
The move comes months after a ban on the China-based app was set to take effect at the outset of this year.
Discussing how the deal was made, Trump said: “I spoke with President Xi. We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said ‘go ahead with it.'”
US vice president JD Vance told reporters in the Oval Office that the deal would protect citizens from “propaganda”.
“This deal really does mean Americans can use TikTok but actually use it with more confidence than they had in the past because their data is secure and it won’t be used as a propaganda weapon like it has in the past,” Vance said.
However, he acknowledged the move was met with “some resistance on the Chinese side”.
“The fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” he said.
A group of Republicans said they want to see more details of the deal to ensure it represents a clean break with China.
“As the details are finalised, we must ensure this deal protects American users from the influence and surveillance of CCP-aligned groups,” the group said.
Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million US users, with helping him win reelection last year, and he has 15 million followers on his personal account.
“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.
Who will own the assets?
Murdoch and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal, Trump confirmed.
“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” he said, suggesting that US companies and investors would have majority control over the new entity.
Trump said tech giant Oracle would be among the US investors in TikTok, but he did not disclose the full roster of new owners.
A group of existing shareholders in ByteDance will hold a roughly 30 per cent stake, according to Reuters. Among ByteDance’s current investors are venture capital firms Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, and KKR.
— With additional reporting by Reuters.
