President Donald Trump has announced that he has a prospective buyer for TikTok, the video-sharing platform that was banned in the U.S. over concerns it posed a national security threat.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said a group of "very wealthy people" is ready to purchase the app. “I’ll tell you in about two weeks,” he said, hinting at a forthcoming reveal.
The sale would still need to be approved by the Chinese government, but Trump expressed optimism, saying he believes President Xi Jinping “will probably approve it.”
Earlier this month, Trump issued a third delay on the enforcement of a law requiring TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform. The latest extension gives ByteDance until September 17 to finalize a deal.
TikTok has not commented on Trump’s latest remarks.
An earlier attempt to sell TikTok to an American buyer collapsed in April following renewed tensions between the U.S. and China over tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. It is unclear whether the buyer Trump mentioned now is the same one involved in those earlier negotiations.
The U.S. Congress passed legislation last April mandating TikTok’s sale, citing fears that the app or its Chinese parent company might be compelled to share American user data with the Chinese government—a claim TikTok has consistently denied.
Although Trump was critical of TikTok during his first term, he has since embraced the platform, crediting it as a factor in his 2024 election campaign success and now backing its continued presence in the U.S.
The law originally scheduled to take effect on January 19 has been repeatedly postponed by Trump through executive orders—moves that have drawn criticism for circumventing congressional authority.
TikTok challenged the law’s constitutionality but ultimately lost its appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court.
