Trump Teases “Wealthy” Buyer for TikTok
During an interview with Fox News Sunday Morning Futures, President Donald Trump revealed that there’s a buyer ready to take over TikTok, after several months of pressuring the social media app’s Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell it.
Trump went on to say that he believes China’s president, Xi Jinping will approve the deal and that the sale may require Beijing’s clearance. When asked who the buyer is, President Trump said he’ll reveal the group’s identity “in about two weeks.”
While names haven’t been released, prospective buyers have reportedly included people like Kevin O’Leary, best known for his role on Shark Tank, and Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker who served as the 77th U.S Treasury Secretary under the Trump administration from 2017 to 2021.
The announcement follows Congress mandating ByteDance to divest its U.S. unit or face a nationwide ban. Backed by the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, congressional leaders argue that Chinese ownership of the app’s U.S. operations allows access to sensitive user data and content manipulation.
A nationwide ban on TikTok went into effect on January 19 of this year, just one day before Trump’s inauguration, but was quickly reversed and then delayed by the president a total of three times. The new deadline for ByteDance to sell the platform is September 17, 2025.
