Trump Says US Talking With Four Groups Over TikTok Sale

US president Donald Trump has offered a hint about the possible future ownership of TikTok’s American business, whilst speaking aboard Air Force One.

Trump on Sunday was quoted by Reuters as saying that his administration was in touch with four different groups about the sale of Chinese-owned TikTok, and that all options were good.

It comes after US President Joe Biden in April 2024 had signed a bill that gave Chinese owner ByteDance up to a year to divest TikTok, or face a nationwide ban across the United States.

TikTok sale or divest

It should be remembered that TikTok is already been banned on US federal devices due to national security concerns, and a majority of US states have also banned the app on state-owned devices.

But with Biden signing that bill, ByteDance faced a divest deadline for a sale of TikTok by Sunday 19 January 2025. After that deadline, Internet service providers (ISPs) faced being penalised for supporting TikTok’s operations in the country.

TikTok had temporarily suspended its service in the US for several hours ahead of the 19 January deadline, but then restored service after Trump said he planned to extend the deadline.

Shortly after that Trump signed an executive order that shifted the deadline forward 75 days, expressing a desire to give a US entity a 50 percent stake in the app to keep it available in the country.

This meant TikTok’s 19 January deadline has been pushed back until Saturday 5 April 2025.

Four buyers

However Chinese owner ByteDance has not changed its stance, and has always stated that it would rather shutter the app in the US rather than sell it.

Yet in January one of the Chinese company’s board members revealed that ByteDance was in active talks with the Trump administration over a way of keeping TikTok active in the US without selling it – reflecting ByteDance’s efforts to maintain services to TikTok’s 170 million US users

But now Donald Trump said on Sunday that his administration was in touch with four different groups about the sale of TikTok.

Asked if there was going to soon be a deal on TikTok, Trump told reporters aboard the Air Force One, “it could.”

“We’re dealing with four different groups, and a lot of people want it … all four are good,” he added.

TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment outside of normal business hours.

Possible buyers

There are a number of possible American acquirers for TikTok.

In January TikTok had denied a ‘pure fiction’ report of a possible sale to Elon Musk.

Also in January a group of investors, including American billionaire and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, submitted the ‘People’s Bid’ to buy the platform from ByteDance.

In previous years when Trump had tried to force TikTok’s sale during his first term, Oracle, Microsoft and other tech firms were potential acquirers.