US President Donald Trump has said he has found a buyer for TikTok’s US operations, without disclosing their identities or the financial terms of the deal.
Speaking on Fox News’ Sunday Morning with Maria Bartiromo, Trump described the potential acquirer as “a group of very wealthy people.”
“We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way. I think I’ll need probably China approval and I think President Xi [Jinping] will probably do it,” Trump said in the taped interview.
Bloomberg now reports, citing a person familiar with the discussions, that the buyers cited by Trump are a group of investors who were previously in talks with ByteDance, including Oracle, Blackstone and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Those talks broke down after Beijing withheld approval in the wake of Trump’s decision to impose sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods.
In March, Politico reported, citing three people familiar with the discussions, that Vice President JD Vance and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz were leading the reported talks on behalf of Trump.
Bloomberg said the talks with the consortium previously negotiated a structure that would give outside investors 50% of TikTok’s US business while reducing ByteDance’s stake to below 20%, which would have been in line with the requirements of the divest-or-ban law. As part of the agreement, ByteDance’s existing US investors would own about 30% of the company.
At that time, ByteDance faced an April 5 deadline to divest TikTok’s US operations or face a ban in the US, following an extension of the original January 19 deadline. President Trump has since extended the deadline two more times. The latest deadline is September 17.
The news follows last week’s trade agreement that reduced US tariffs on Chinese imports to 30% from 145%. That deal included China’s commitment to ease curbs on rare earth exports in exchange for the US resuming shipments of ethane, jet engines and chip-design software.
However, Beijing’s position on TikTok remains unchanged. On Monday (June 30), Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning declined to comment on the sale discussions, saying only in a press briefing that “we have made clear China’s principled position on the issue more than once. I have no information to add.”
Other reported potential buyers for TikTok are a group including billionaire Frank McCourt and Employer.com founder Jesse Tinsley. Even Tim Stokely, the founder of OnlyFans, has thrown his hat in the ring with his new startup Zoop.
Trump had previously floated the idea of Elon Musk acquiring the platform. However, Musk shot down that speculation in February, saying, “I have not put in a bid for TikTok. I don’t have any plans for what I would do if I had TikTok.”
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