Washington: Before a deadline on Saturday, US President Donald Trump said that an agreement will be reached to sell the 170 million-user TikTok short video app to its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. In January, Trump gave TikTok until April 5 to find a non-Chinese buyer or risk a US ban on national security grounds, as a 2024 legislation would have gone into force that month. “We have a lot of potential buyers,” Trump said late Sunday to reporters aboard Air Force One. “There’s tremendous interest in Tiktok,” he said. “I’d like to see Tiktok remain alive.”
TikTok did not immediately respond as at the time this post was written. According to two individuals familiar with the situation, private equity giant Blackstone is considering making a tiny minority stake in TikTok’s US operations, as reported by news agency Reuters earlier on Friday.
In order to compete for TikTok’s US business, Blackstone is considering joining ByteDance’s current non-Chinese owners, which are headed by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, in providing more funding. The team has become the front-runners.
Washington claims that since ByteDance owns TikTok, the app is under Chinese control and that Beijing may use it to gather information on Americans and carry out influence campaigns against the US. In the past, Trump has said that if a deal over the social networking app could not be struck, he would be prepared to extend the April deadline.
“Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” he said last week, acknowledging the role China would play in completing any agreement, including approving it. Vice President JD Vance has said that he anticipates reaching a broad agreement by April 5 that resolves the ownership of the social media site.
Since a 2024 legislation that was approved with resounding bipartisan support mandated that ByteDance sell TikTok by January 19, the future of the app that is used by over half of all Americans has been uncertain. In the highly anticipated merger negotiations, the White House has taken on an unprecedented degree of involvement, essentially acting as an investment bank.
