Checking in on the U.S. TikTok saga, on the 162nd day since the app was banned in the U.S. by federal law.
Of course, TikTok hasn’t actually been banned despite this, because U.S. President Donald Trump has “a warm spot” in his heart for the app, and keeps delaying enforcement of the law via executive orders. But technically, TikTok should not be available to Americans, as it hasn’t established a deal with a U.S. partner, in line with legislation.
So are we any closer to reaching a new agreement on this front?
Well, that depends on which reports you choose to believe.
According to Trump himself, a deal is all but finalized, with “a group of very wealthy people” ready to sign on to partner with TikTok’s parent company ByteDance on a new regional agreement.
President Trump told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” program that:
“We have a buyer for TikTok by the way. I think I’ll need probably China approval, and I think President Xi will probably do it, you know?”
Trump said that he’ll have more to share on the deal in “about two weeks,” with, again, a group of very wealthy partners ready to invest in the U.S. operations of the app.
Which, given the various names floated as potential U.S. buyers for the platform makes sense, as everyone from Oracle’s Larry Ellison, to Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary, to YouTube celebrity MrBeast has reportedly put in a bid for the American stake of the app.
Who, exactly, Trump is referring to, however, we can only speculate, but Oracle has long seemed like the most logical partner for the platform, given its past relationship with TikTok U.S.
Back in April, The Information reported that a new entity called “TikTok America” would be formed to meet the app’s legal ownership requirements, which would be 50% owned by a consortium made up of Oracle, Blackrock, and Andreesen Horowitz, among others.
Trump’s latest statements seemingly point to this being the likely make-up of the final deal, which would also see ByteDance retain a 19.9% stake in the app.
So it does seem like a U.S. TikTok deal is close, but then again…
Last week, Axios reported that TikTok sales negotiations had stalled, with some potential suitors, including billionaire Frank McCourt, saying that things had gone very quiet in the lead-up to the latest ban extension.
As per Axios:
“Negotiations between potential bidders and the White House were being led by the vice president’s office, but talks slowed ahead of the third ban delay […] U.S. bidders remain eager to strike a deal, but getting the Chinese government’s sign-off will require intervention from the U.S. government, which is currently distracted by several other foreign policy obstacles.”
Of course, both of these reports may well be true. It could be that the White House is already closing in on one deal, which is freezing out other bidders, which would make it appear as though things had stalled, when actually an agreement is closer than ever.
But we don’t know, and no one outside of the U.S. officials arranging the sale, and the Chinese government executives negotiating the same, can actually provide any direct insight into what’s happening.
And aside from President Trump, there’s nothing else to go on at this stage.
So maybe we’re closer to the end, but it does ultimately seem to hinge on broader foreign policy developments, and the progression of U.S.-China trade talks leading into the next TikTok sale deadline.
Which is now set to come into effect on September 17th.
So maybe we get an update before then, though I wouldn’t be expecting anything much for a while yet, given the extended timeline, and the negotiations still to come with Chinese officials.
They haven’t been rushed to make a deal thus far, and I don’t see why they will be now, given the knowledge that Trump will likely just extend the negotiation period once again if things can’t be worked out.
Which, despite some legal and regulatory concerns, he can do, by submitting further executive orders to withhold enforcement of the TikTok ban.
So maybe we hear something in the next two weeks, but probably not, and the only real deadline we have is still some time away.
