Photo Credit: Solen Feyissa
Trump says he’s in talks with multiple parties over buying TikTok and will likely have a decision within 30 days to determine the app’s fate.
TikTok’s ultimate fate in the United States should be determined in the next 30 days, said President Trump on Saturday. The Trump administration is in talks with multiple parties interested in buying the app’s US operations, with software company Oracle appearing as the frontrunner.
Trump signed an executive order after being sworn in that grants TikTok a 75-day extension to comply with the law that requires a sale to a US company or face a ban. Since then, several parties have come forward with an interest in purchasing TikTok, including Elon Musk, YouTuber MrBeast, Kevin O’Leary, and Steven Mnuchin.
Over the weekend, Trump said his administration was working on a plan to save TikTok that involves tapping software company Oracle and a group of outside investors. Although Trump also said that Oracle was not part of the deal, sources familiar with the situation have said otherwise — but they note the terms involving Oracle are extremely fluid and likely to change.
“Numerous people are talking to me, very substantial people, about buying [TikTok], and I will make that decision probably over the next 30 days,” said Trump. The potential deal would see TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance retain a minority stake in the company. Meanwhile, the app’s algorithm, data collection, and software updates would be overseen by Oracle.
The deal being negotiated is expected to include participation from some of ByteDance’s current US investors, which may include Jeff Yass’ Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), and Sequoia Capital. Notably, sources say that neither O’Leary’s bid with the investor group led by Frank McCourt, nor YouTube star MrBeast, are involved in the negotiation with Oracle or ByteDance’s US backers.
“The goal is for Oracle to effectively monitor and provide oversight with what is going on with TikTok,” said a source directly involved in the negotiations in a comment to NPR. “ByteDance wouldn’t completely go away, but it would minimize Chinese ownership.”
But Oracle isn’t the only entity working with the US government to reach an agreement to buy TikTok. On Sunday, Perplexity AI revised the merger proposal it had submitted to ByteDance, which would see the AI company combined with TikTok’s US operations to create a new entity, currently called “NewCo.” Perplexity’s revised offer would now allow for the US government to own up to 50% of the new company upon a future IPO.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.digitalmusicnews.com ’
