Trump Says He’s Found Buyers for TikTok

Trump Says He’s Found Buyers for TikTok

The News

President Donald Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday there is a “buyer for TikTok,” teasing an announcement to come in “about two weeks.”

“We have a buyer for TikTok by the way. I think I’ll need probably China approval, and I think President Xi will probably do it,” the president said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.”

Asked who the buyer is going to be, Trump said, “I’ll tell you in about two weeks.”

“It’s a group of very wealthy people,” the president added.

Timeline

As a June 19 deadline to enforce the sale-or-ban law approached

Trump has instead signed three orders delaying enforcement on the ban. As a June 19 deadline to enforce the sale-or-ban law approached, Trump granted TikTok a 90-day extension. The deadline for its parent company, ByteDance, to hand over control of TikTok’s US operations is now September 17.

In April

In April, a deal that would have transferred majority control of TikTok’s US operations to American ownership was nearly finalized. But it fell apart after Trump announced additional tariffs on China, forcing the president to announce another 75-day delay to keep the app operational in the United States.

TikTok briefly took itself offline, sparking outcry from creators, but quickly came back after Trump signed his first order delaying the ban’s enforcement by 75 days. It was one of his first acts as president, made in hopes of reaching a deal to keep the app “alive.”

Reactions

“There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law,” ByteDance said after Trump’s tariff policy stalled progress on the deal in April.

More

It’s been about five months since a law requiring TikTok to be banned in the United States unless it was sold off by its China-based parent company, ByteDance, technically went into effect. But thanks to Trump’s promises not to enforce the law, neither of those things have happened, aside from an approximately 14-hour blackout in January.

The delay raised questions about the status of a deal that could secure TikTok’s long-term future in the US. The Chinese government has offered little public indication that it would be willing to approve a sale beyond suggesting that any deal could not include TikTok’s “algorithm,” which has been called the app’s secret sauce.

Former President Joe Biden last year signed the sale-or-ban law last year to go into effect January 19.

Charleston White Arrested Again on Florida Battery Charge

Border Patrol Rescues MS NOW Crew in Desert

Supreme Court Restores Missouri's Old House Map

Alaska Drops Felony Voter Charges Against Samoans

Trespasser Breaches Harris' Malibu Estate; No Arrest

Hegseth Pressed Downed Airmen Into 60 Minutes

Houthis Seize Mokha, Choking Saudi Oil Exports

Altman Rules Out OpenAI IPO This Year

Jury Acquits Lil Durk in Murder-for-Hire Case

Judge: Trump Broke Law Halving FEMA Staff

Maher Calls Democrats' Gaza Genocide Claim a Lie

Blizzard Revives StarCraft, Sends Diablo to Netflix

Trump's Queens Childhood Home Sells for $1.93M

Scientists Find New Virus in Tick Invading US

Britain Bans Settlement Imports; US States Threaten Payback

Prison Fire Kills 7 as Kurds Protest Killing

Kosovo Rallies for Ex-President Before Hague Verdict

Cruz Booed at GameDay Over College Sports Bill

Blast Hits Bulgarian Arms Plant Supplying Ukraine

DOJ Loses Nearly Every Protester Assault Trial