Reports suggest ByteDance is delaying the TikTok sale process, but Senator JD Vance has now been tasked with spearheading a potential acquisition.
According to The Hill, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Vice President JD Vance have been appointed to oversee the possible sale of TikTok.
President Trump assigned Vance the responsibility of facilitating a deal to prevent the shutdown of the widely popular short-form video platform.
Before his political career, Vance was a venture capitalist, backing alternative media platforms such as Rumble.
President Trump has vowed to “save TikTok” following a law signed by former President Biden that banned the app. One of Trump’s initial acts as president was to issue a 75-day suspension of the ban to enable negotiations aimed at separating TikTok’s U.S. operations from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
As part of this effort, Trump has ordered the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund that could potentially hold partial ownership of TikTok in any future deal.
However, ByteDance has expressed strong resistance to selling its U.S. operations.
Reports indicate that the Chinese government (CCP) would prefer to see TikTok shut down in the U.S. rather than sold to a foreign entity.
Over recent weeks, several potential buyers have come forward with bids ranging from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. Yet, the CCP is reportedly pushing for broader concessions on trade and technology policies from the Trump administration before entertaining the idea of a sale.
TikTok, which boasts more than 170 million users in the United States, was briefly taken offline ahead of the ban going into effect.
While the app remains accessible via the web, both Apple and Google have removed it from their app stores. This is due to a provision in the law that holds platform owners accountable for any TikTok downloads after January 19, with penalties of $5,000 per offense.
As negotiations continue, the future of TikTok in the U.S. remains uncertain, with both political and economic stakes hanging in the balance.
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