Trump says there’s a buyer for TikTok but won’t divulge name

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump said he has identified a buyer for the US operations of the TikTok social media app owned by Chinese company ByteDance, but he will not provide details for two weeks.

“We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way. I think I will need probably China approval and I think President Xi will probably do it,” he said, referring to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in an interview on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo. “It’s a group of very wealthy people.” The interview, which aired on Sunday (Jun 29), was taped on Friday.

Trump earlier said he would extend for the third time a deadline for Bytedance to sell the US portions of TikTok, which would give the company 90 days beyond Jun 19.

Congress passed a law last year requiring the divestiture, citing national security concerns. Under the law, the president was allowed to invoke one extension.

Movement on a deal has largely stalled with US-China trade relations swept up in larger tensions over tariff negotiations.

Before Trump announced widespread tariffs in April, a deal was reportedly close, advanced by a consortium of US investors including Oracle, Blackstone and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

The White House did not respond to a request for more details on Trump’s latest remarks. BLOOMBERG