Trump Confirms News Corp’s Murdochs, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell Lining Up To Take Over TikTok US

Media mogul and News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch, along with Larry Ellison and Michael Dell, the owners of Oracle and Dell Technologies, would be involved in ByteDance's deal to sell TikTok's U.S. business to American entities, President Donald Trump told Fox News.

"A man named Lachlan is involved," Trump said on Fox News' "The Sunday Briefing," as reported by CNBC. "Lachlan Murdoch ... Rupert [Murdoch] is probably gonna be in the group, I think they're going to be in the group."

The group includes a "couple of others, really great people, very prominent people," Trump added, calling them "American patriots."

The TikTok U.S. deal talks are seemingly reaching an endpoint. Trump said on Friday that the U.S. and China made progress, without giving specifics, and he again extended the deadline for the proposed divestiture to Dec. 16.

Congress had ordered TikTok's shutdown for U.S. users by January 2025, citing national security reasons, if its Chinese owner did not sell its U.S. assets. TikTok has 170 million U.S. users.

A deal like this requires Beijing's approval, and China is leveraging TikTok as a bargaining chip in broader negotiations over trade and tariffs. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are now set to meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that starts on Oct. 31 in Gyeongju, South Korea.

TikTok U.S. would have a new seven-member board, six of whom would be American members, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Saturday. She also said that the U.S. would control the app algorithm. Reuters cited an unnamed White House official as saying that ByteDance will retain a 20% stake in TikTok U.S.

To be sure, TikTok's Chinese parent has a few American shareholders, namely, investment firms Susquehanna, General Atlantic, and KKR.

Oracle's name as one of the new owners for TikTok U.S. has been floating around for a while, and the Murdochs and Dell are the latest players in the running. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources, that the unit would be controlled by the software company and investment firms Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz.

As of late Sunday, the retail sentiment was 'bullish' for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, and 'bearish' for Dell on Stocktwits. Oracle had an 'extremely bullish' sentiment reading.

News Corp owns the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones and Fox News, among other assets.

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