Trump teases TikTok buyer that he鈥檒l reveal in 'about two weeks'
President Donald Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday there is a 鈥渂uyer for TikTok,鈥� teasing an announcement to come in 鈥渁bout two weeks.鈥�
鈥淲e have a buyer for TikTok by the way. I think I鈥檒l need probably China approval, and I think President Xi will probably do it,鈥� the president said on Fox News鈥� 鈥淪unday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.鈥�
Asked who the buyer is going to be, Trump said, 鈥淚鈥檒l tell you in about two weeks.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a group of very wealthy people,鈥� the president added.
It鈥檚 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鈥檚 promises not to enforce the law, neither of those things have happened, aside from an approximately 14-hour blackout in January.
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鈥檚 U.S. operations is now Sept. 17.
The delay raised questions about the status of a deal that could secure TikTok鈥檚 long-term future in the U.S. 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鈥檚 鈥渁lgorithm,鈥� which has been called the app鈥檚 secret sauce.
In April, a deal that would have transferred majority control of TikTok鈥檚 U.S. 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.
鈥淭here are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law,鈥� ByteDance said after Trump鈥檚 tariff policy stalled progress on the deal in April.
Former President Joe Biden last year signed the sale-or-ban law last year to go into effect Jan. 19. TikTok briefly took itself offline, sparking outcry from creators, but quickly came back after Trump signed his first order delaying the ban鈥檚 enforcement by 75 days. It was one of his first acts as president, made in hopes of reaching a deal to keep the app 鈥渁live.鈥�