On Sunday, President Donald Trump stated that business leaders Lachlan Murdoch, Larry Ellison, and Michael Dell would be involved as US investors in a proposed deal to keep TikTok operating in the United States. Trump has said that the US and China have made progress on an agreement requiring TikTok’s American assets to be transferred from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, to American owners.
Lachlan Murdoch, the CEO of Fox Corp, recently cemented long-term control of his family’s media empire, which includes Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, after settling a long-standing legal battle with his siblings. Trump also mentioned that the family patriarch, 94-year-old Rupert Murdoch, may be involved in the deal. Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle and a significant Republican donor, has long been linked to a potential TikTok deal. Michael Dell is the CEO of Dell Technologies.
In an interview with Fox News’s “The Sunday Briefing” program, Trump praised the group, calling them prominent people and “American patriots.” “I think they’re going to do a really good job,” Trump said, crediting TikTok with helping build his support among young voters in the 2024 presidential election.
The Trump administration has declined to enforce a US law enacted during the Biden administration that required TikTok’s divestiture over fears that its US user data could be accessed by the Chinese government. Trump has included negotiations over the popular social media app, which has 170 million US users, as part of his wide-ranging economic talks with China
