WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has revealed that media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his eldest son Lachlan could be among the investors taking control of TikTok in the United States.
The United States has forcefully sought to remove TikTok’s US operations from Chinese parent company ByteDance for national security reasons.
Trump has repeatedly delayed the implementation of a ban since returning to power in January while a deal has been sought.
He has negotiated with Beijing to sell the platform’s US operations to a consortium of investors he describes as patriots.
This group already includes ally and tech giant Oracle’s boss Larry Ellison and entrepreneur Michael Dell.
Trump added more names to that list during a Sunday interview with Fox News.
“I hate to tell you this, but a man named Lachlan is involved… Lachlan Murdoch, I believe,“ Trump said.
“And Rupert is, is probably going to be in the group. I think they’re going to be in the group. Couple of others, really great people, very prominent people.”
Earlier this month, Rupert Murdoch’s children reached a settlement in their long-running legal dispute over control of the media empire.
This settlement cemented his eldest son Lachlan’s leadership of the family business.
Lachlan Murdoch officially took control of Fox News and News Corp as part of the deal.
The elder Murdoch built a right-wing conservative media empire spanning the United States, Britain and Australia.
The White House said on Saturday that the board of the new company controlling TikTok’s US operations would be dominated by American citizens.
A deal could be signed in the coming days according to the White House statement. – AFP