Despite former President Donald Trump’s assessment that TikTok poses less of a national threat than Meta’s Facebook (META), TikTok faces a US ban if ByteDance clings onto ownership. Previous Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin indicated that he plans to assemble an investor group to acquire the video platform to prevent such a ban.
At present, ByteDance, a private Chinese company, owns TikTok. On Wednesday, 13 March 2024, the US House of Representatives approved a bilateral bill to cancel the international app if the company does not divest its stake.
In a CNBC Squawk Box interview, Mnuchin, who is currently at the helm of Liberty Strategic Capital, said:
I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold. It’s a great business and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok.
Mnuchin said that he has contacted a “bunch of people” about putting together a band of investors with the goal of buying TikTok. The former Trump administration finance manager did not, however, provide an insight into who these investors might be.
Don’t miss out the latest news, subscribe to LeapRate’s newsletter
To justify the US ownership of the ByteDance app, Mnuchin went on to say that China would not allow the US to own and operate TikTok on Chinese soil. The bill reportedly passed by a vote of 352 to 65 and will now go on to the US Senate where it will be scrutinised. Should it go through, President Joe Biden has already indicated that he will sign it.
