US President Donald Trump said a “group of wealthy people” plans to purchase TikTok, requiring Chinese government approval for the transaction, reports news agencies.
“We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way,” Trump said during a Fox News interview aired Sunday. “I think I will need probably China’s approval. I think (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping) will probably do it.”
Trump described the potential buyers as “very, very wealthy people” forming a group, declining to specify whether a major technology company was involved, says Anadolu Agency.
He said he will reveal details “in about two weeks.”
US congress passed bipartisan legislation in 2024 requiring ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, to divest US operations or face a nationwide ban due to national security concerns about potential data sharing with Beijing.
The Supreme Court upheld the law’s constitutionality in January.
Trump extended the TikTok enforcement deadline by 90 days to September 17 through an executive order in June, marking his third delay of the potential ban. The first one was through an executive order on January 20, his first day in office, after the platform went dark briefly when a national ban — approved by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court — took effect, adds AP.
The video-sharing platform, which serves around 170 million users in the US, briefly went offline prior to Trump’s second inauguration but was restored after he promised to postpone enforcement.