 "US President Donald Trump delivers remarks on AI infrastructure, next to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son at the Roosevelt room at White House in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. File Image/Reuters")
US President Donald Trump has said that he is holding talks regarding the sale of TikTok and will decide the future of the app in 30 days.
Amid reports that the Trump administration is negotiating a deal between ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, and Oracle, Trump over the weekend said that he is in talks with “many people” without taking any names.
“I have spoken to many people about TikTok and there is great interest in TikTok,” said Trump.
Trump has vowed to save TikTok, an app popular in the United States that is used by the Chinese regime to peddle pro-China, anti-West content to indoctrinate users into being supporters of China. The US Congress last year passed a bill that previous President Joe Biden signed into law that said the app would be banned if its US operations would not be sold to an appropriate non-Chinese entity by January 19, 2025. However, Trump, who received support on TikTok in his election campaign, has rewarded the app by killing the ban.
When asked if Trump meant Oracle when he said he was in talks about the sale of TikTok, he said: “No, not with Oracle. Numerous people are talking to me, very substantial people, about buying it and I will make that decision probably over the next 30 days. Congress has given 90 days. If we can save TikTok, I think it would be a good thing.”
Shortly before assuming office, Trump had said that he will “not to let TikTok stay dark”. He said that he would pass an executive order after Inauguration (which he did) and would like to see a US company shave 50 per cent ownership of the platform in a joint venture.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations. I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands, and allow it to say up,” said Trump.
Who are TikTok’s probable buyers?
While TikTok has not disclosed anything, there have been reports about TikTok probable buyers.
Reports have said that TikTok could be sold to Oracle, Elon Musk, and a group led by billionaire Frank McCourt and YouTube star Mr Beast.
Reuters has reported that the Trump administration is negotiating a deal between ByteDance and Oracle.
Under the deal, ByteDance would hold a minority stake and Oracle would hold the majority stake and also control data collection and software updates, according to Reuters.
Oracle appears to be a natural player for such a deal. Since 2022, TikTok has had a deal with the company to store US users’ information in the United States to address the security concerns.
Under the reported deal in the making, TikTok would retain its staff.