The future of TikTok in the United States is edging closer to a resolution, as President Donald Trump confirmed over the weekend that media moguls Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch may be part of the investor group taking control of the app’s U.S. operations.
Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Trump said Lachlan Murdoch is “involved” in the deal, and suggested his father, Rupert, could also join the group.
He added that Oracle’s executive chairman, Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell are likely to participate as well.
The details remain somewhat fluid. Trump did not specify whether the Murdochs’ involvement would be personal or through Fox Corporation, which owns Fox News and is led by Lachlan Murdoch as CEO. However, U.S. media outlet Deadline has reported that Fox is in active discussions to join the consortium.
The transaction would see TikTok spun off from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, under majority American ownership. According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the agreement has been reached in principle, though it is yet to be formally signed.
Leavitt disclosed that U.S. representatives would control six out of seven board seats in the restructured company, with the app’s algorithm overseen within the U.S.
“All of those details have already been agreed upon,” she said. “Now we just need this deal to be signed, which I anticipate happening in the coming days.”
What we know
Bloomberg also reported that new investors are expected to include Oracle, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake Management, a private equity player. Oracle will reportedly take the lead on TikTok’s security and safety framework, while ByteDance is expected to retain less than 20% of the new entity.
The backdrop to the deal is a federal bill passed last year mandating a ban on TikTok unless ByteDance divests its U.S. operations. The app was briefly unavailable in the U.S. market earlier this year until Trump extended deadlines for a sale to go through.
Adding geopolitical weight, Trump said he had spoken directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who gave approval for the restructuring. TikTok itself issued a statement thanking both Xi and Trump “for their efforts to preserve TikTok in the United States.”
“ByteDance will work in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users through TikTok U.S.,” the company said.
If finalized, the deal will reshape ownership of one of the most influential social media platforms in the world, potentially easing U.S. concerns over national security while ensuring ByteDance retains a minority stake in TikTok’s American future.
Backstory
This development followed a year-long dispute over TikTok’s Chinese ownership. President-elect Donald Trump had earlier declared that TikTok must be at least 50% owned by U.S. investors, emphasizing that its value in the U.S. depended on government approval. He made this statement during a rally in Washington on the eve of his inauguration.
- TikTok, which had around 170 million U.S. users, had become a cultural force among younger audiences. But concerns over national security and data privacy fueled calls for ByteDance to divest.
- Earlier in the year, a federal appeals court ruled that the app could face a ban if not sold to a U.S.-based company by January 19, prompting many American content creators to migrate followers to rivals such as Instagram and YouTube.
- ByteDance faced mounting pressure from both political parties. At one point, Amazon was reported to have made a last-minute bid for TikTok, according to reports.
A Trump administration official confirmed that the offer was submitted in a letter to Vice President J.D. Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, though the bid did not gain traction.
