Trump Confirms Murdoch, Oracle and Dell in TikTok U.S. Takeover Talks Amid Push for 50% American Ownership

The long-running saga over TikTok’s future in the United States is reaching a turning point. President Donald Trump confirmed over the weekend that some of America’s most powerful business leaders — including Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell — are in talks to take over the app’s U.S. operations. The proposed deal could hand majority control of one of the world’s most influential social media platforms to American investors after months of political and legal wrangling.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said Lachlan Murdoch is “involved” in negotiations and hinted his father, Rupert, may also participate. Deadline reported that Fox Corporation, led by Lachlan Murdoch, is in active discussions to join the investor group. The White House says the agreement has been reached “in principle,” with six of seven board seats in the restructured company expected to be held by U.S. representatives and TikTok’s algorithm hosted domestically.

Bloomberg has reported that the new consortium could also include Oracle, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and private equity group Silver Lake Management. Oracle is poised to take the lead on TikTok’s U.S. security and data-safety framework — a central concern for lawmakers who have argued the Chinese-owned app poses national-security risks. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent, would retain less than 20% of the new entity.

The deal follows a federal law mandating a TikTok ban unless ByteDance divests its U.S. arm, a move that briefly removed the app from the American market earlier this year. Trump, who had publicly demanded that TikTok be at least 50% U.S.-owned, said he personally spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who gave approval for the restructuring. TikTok thanked both leaders for “their efforts to preserve TikTok in the United States” in a statement released Sunday.

If finalized, the takeover would reshape ownership of a platform with roughly 170 million U.S. users and ease fears over data privacy while keeping ByteDance as a minority stakeholder. It also caps a year-long standoff that saw rival tech giants like Amazon rumored as potential buyers and content creators hedging bets on other apps. For TikTok fans and influencers, the agreement could mean a more stable future for the app that has become a cultural staple in American life.

source: nairametrics