President Donald Trump announced in a Fox News interview that a group of “very wealthy people” is ready to purchase the short-form video app TikTok. Trump mentioned, “We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way. I think I’ll need probably China’s approval. I think President Xi [Jinping] will probably do it.”
Details about the buyers remain under wraps for now, with Trump teasing that their identities will be revealed in two weeks (his favorite unit of time, apparently). This comes after Trump’s repeated delays in forcing owner ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban in the United States.
Back in January, Trump floated the idea of a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners, with the U.S. holding a 50% ownership stake. He has also mentioned being open to the idea of allies Larry Ellison or Elon Musk stepping in as buyers, although Musk’s involvement seems less likely at this point.
