Former President Donald Trump’s ex-treasury secretary is developing a strategy to acquire TikTok after US lawmakers are moving closer to prohibiting the social media app.
Steve Mnuchin, who worked under Trump from 2017 to 2021, stated on Thursday that he is organizing an investor group to buy the popular platform. He shared his intentions after the House approved legislation that would require TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell it within six months or face a nationwide ban.
The future of TikTok is uncertain as the bill progresses to the Senate.
‘I believe the legislation should be passed, and I think it should be sold,’ Mnuchin told CNBC’s Squawk Box. ‘It’s a fantastic business, and I’m going to assemble a group to acquire TikTok.’
Mnuchin heads Liberty Strategic Capital, which has SoftBank Vision Fund as a limited partner. SoftBank invested in ByteDance in 2018.
The former treasury secretary expressed that TikTok ‘should be owned by US businesses’, explaining that ‘there’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a US company own something like this in China’.
Mnuchin did not reveal a potential valuation for TikTok or identify other investors that could be involved in a potential deal.
It is uncertain whether the Chinese government would permit ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American buyer.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has stated that they do not intend to sell the platform, which has 170 million users in the US.
During his presidency, Trump supported efforts to ban TikTok, which government officials believe could pose a threat to national security if the Chinese government compels ByteDance to share user data.
However, Trump shifted his position last week to opposing a ban, arguing that Facebook and ‘Enemy of the People’ Mark Zuckerberg who owns Meta would benefit from a TikTok shutdown.
Despite Trump’s opposition to the legislation, a majority of House Republicans voted in favor of a ban, and the bill experienced a rare bipartisan advancement.
President Joe Biden has expressed willingness to sign the bill into law if it reaches his desk.
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