President Donald Trump announced that media mogul Lachlan Murdoch, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell would be involved as U.S. investors in a proposed deal to keep TikTok operating in the United States.
The deal would transfer TikTok’s U.S. assets from China’s ByteDance to majority American ownership, with a board of directors possessing national security and cybersecurity expertise, giving Trump allies influence over the popular social media platform used by 170 million U.S. users.
Trump praised the investors as “American patriots,” noting Murdoch’s recent consolidation of his family media empire, Ellison’s longstanding links to the TikTok deal, and Dell’s role as a major corporate leader. The proposal is part of broader U.S.-China negotiations, and ByteDance would retain less than 20% ownership of the U.S. joint venture.
The announcement comes amid controversy, as Trump’s administration has previously intervened in corporate matters, including stakes in Intel and Nvidia, prompting criticism that such moves deviate from traditional U.S. capitalist norms and may impact economic competitiveness.
