Trump Administration Set To Receive $10 Billion Fee For Brokering TikTok Deal: Report
President Donald Trump’s administration is poised to charge investors nearly $10 billion in a recently completed deal to take control of TikTok’s U.S. business, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, finalized a deal in January to form a majority-American joint venture that would secure U.S. data to avoid a U.S. ban on the short-video app used by more than 200 million Americans.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC will secure US user data, applications and algorithms through data privacy and cybersecurity measures. He disclosed few details about the divestiture.
Vice President JD Vance said in September that the value of the new US company would be around $14 billion.
The WSJ said the payment was part of a deal that saw investors friendly with management take control of TikTok’s U.S. operations from ByteDance. This is on top of investments already made to create a new entity that will operate the app in the US
Investors Oracle, Silver Lake, MGX in Abu Dhabi and other backers paid about $2.5 billion to the Treasury Department when the deal closed and will make a series of subsequent payments until the total amount reaches $10 billion, according to the Journal.
TikTok and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Administration officials said the fee was justified, citing Trump’s role in saving TikTok’s U.S. operations and guiding negotiations to complete the deal with China while addressing lawmakers’ concerns about national security, according to the WSJ.
Earlier this month, Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi were sued by retail investors of two of TikTok’s social media rivals in an attempt to overturn the U.S. president’s approval of a deal by the company’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to form a majority-American joint venture.
