President Donald Trump has claimed that Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan are expected to join a U.S. consortium seeking to acquire TikTok’s American operations from its Chinese owner, ByteDance.
Speaking during a Fox News interview, Trump said the Murdochs would join Oracle founder Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell in the group. He suggested that the Murdochs’ involvement would likely come through their Fox Corporation media business rather than personal investment.
“These are great people, very prominent people, American patriots,” Trump told the network. “I think they’re going to do a really good job.”
The proposed deal is part of efforts to prevent TikTok from being banned across the United States. Congress last year passed legislation requiring ByteDance to divest the app over national security concerns, but the enforcement of that law has repeatedly been delayed while negotiations continue.
The White House said over the weekend that it expected the takeover to be completed “in the coming days.” Trump added that he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping to help secure approval for the deal.
TikTok, which has more than 130 million U.S. users and over a billion worldwide, has long been in the crosshairs of Washington over fears that its Chinese ownership could compromise user data. Oracle is expected to handle data and security functions as part of the arrangement.
While the financial terms and ownership structure have not yet been disclosed, the inclusion of the Murdoch family would bring one of the world’s most influential media groups into the deal. News Corp and Fox declined to comment on the president’s claims.
The revelation comes just months after Trump launched a $10 billion libel suit against the Wall Street Journal, owned by Murdoch’s media empire, over an article about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Despite that legal battle, Trump framed the involvement of Murdoch, Ellison and Dell as proof the TikTok deal would be in “patriotic American hands” – though much still depends on how regulators in Washington and Beijing respond in the weeks ahead.
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Murdoch and Dell said to join US consortium for TikTok takeover, Trump claims