New details on TikTok takeover emerge, including Murdoch investment
More details about a potential U.S. takeover of TikTok emerged Sunday, following the Trump administration’s announcement earlier this week that a deal between Washington and Beijing is imminent. While some of the investors involved had been made public, President Donald Trump said during an interview on Sunday that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch would likely be part of the group.
Murdochs join TikTok takeover
Speaking to Fox News’ Peter Doocy on “The Sunday Briefing,” Trump somewhat reluctantly said that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch will likely be involved in TikTok’s sale to a new U.S. investment entity.
“I hate to tell you this –– a man named Lachlan is involved. You know who Lachlan is? That’s a very unusual name, Lachlan Murdoch,” Trump told Doocy, adding, “Rupert is probably gonna be in the group, I think they’re gonna be in the group, a couple of others.”
The group also includes Larry Ellison of Oracle and Michael Dell of Dell Computers.
Trump’s relationship with the Murdoch family –– as well as their media empire, which includes Fox News and the Wall Street Journal –– has vacillated over the years. Most recently, it took a turn for the worse after Trump filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal. That lawsuit was in response to a crude birthday card Trump allegedly gave the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump announces TikTok buyout
On Wednesday, it was revealed that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had met with Chinese officials in Madrid, finalizing what both sides called a “framework agreement” to overhaul TikTok’s U.S. operations. Under the deal, TikTok’s American business would transfer to a new U.S.-based entity.
A day prior, Trump announced the deal while speaking to reporters outside the White House.
“Well, we have a deal on TikTok,” the president said. “I’ve reached a deal with China. I’m going to speak to President Xi [Jinping] on Friday to confirm everything. We made a very good trade deal, and I hope good for both countries. But a very different deal than they’ve made in the past. We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Saturday also told Fox News that the deal was all but finalized. “We are 100% confident that a deal is done,” Leavitt said. “Now that deal just needs to be signed, and the president’s team is working with their Chinese counterparts to do just that.”
Beijing addresses sale
While Trump said the deal is done, Beijing has shied away from putting a definitive timeline on it. However, following Trump’s phone call with President Xi Jinping on Friday, Chinese state media outlet CGTN reported that TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, “will proceed with relevant work in accordance with Chinese law, ensuring that TikTok’s U.S. operations continue to serve American users.”
During Friday’s phone call with Trump, Xi reportedly said that his government “respects the wishes of [TikTok] and would be happy to see productive commercial negotiations conducted in line with market rules, leading to a solution that complies with China’s laws and regulations and considers the interests of both sides.”
Similarly, the deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Wang Jingtao, told a press briefing that the basic framework agreement paves the way for the “entrusted operation of TikTok’s U.S. user data and content security business, as well as licensing the use of the algorithm and other intellectual property rights.”
Details of the deal
A group of prominent investors, including Ellison’s Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz, would own 80% of TikTok, while Chinese shareholders would own the rest. The deal also makes room for a seven-seat board of directors. Six of those seats would be filled by American interests.
Trump, during his interview Sunday, called the investors “Very prominent people,” adding, “they’re also American patriots, they love this country, so I think they’re gonna do a really good job.”
The comments echoed those made by Leavitt during her Saturday appearance on Fox News. “This deal does put Americans first,” she said. “And let me just be very clear: This deal means that TikTok will be majority-owned by Americans in the United States.”
According to reports, TikTok’s 170 million U.S.-based users will be required to download a new version of the app, which has been built and is currently undergoing testing. A new algorithm developed by ByteDance will be licensed to the American version of the app. However, U.S. user data will be held by Oracle.
The fate of TikTok has been in the balance since early this year when an initial ban was supposed to go into effect. The popular social media app briefly went offline in January before Trump, in one of the first acts of his second term, extended the deadline for a sale.
Trump, who championed the ban during his first term in office, extended that 90-day deadline back in June, and then again on Tuesday. The latest extension, which goes through Dec. 16, is the fourth.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
