Who’s Who in the TikTok Deal?

One of Donald Trump’s big second-term projects has been saving TikTok. Now, after using executive orders to delay a ban on the app passed last year by Congress—and upheld by the Supreme Court—a senior White House official has confirmed that a preliminary deal has been reached with China that will hand over control of TikTok’s algorithm and operations to a group of US investors. Teasing the news on Truth Social last week, the president declared, “I just completed a very productive call with President Xi of China…. The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!”

But who, exactly, will be in charge of TikTok’s US-based operations (and the data of millions of American users)? In an interview with Fox News that aired on Sunday, Trump revealed that the group will involve at least one of his favorite billionaires—and potentially another who might be surprising to those keeping tabs on the people and organizations with whom the president is feuding. “You know, they’re very well-known people. And Larry Ellison is one of them,” Trump said. “He’s involved. He’s a great guy. Michael Dell is involved. I hate to tell you this, but a man named Lachlan is involved,” Trump said on The Sunday Briefing, referring to the younger Murdoch. He added that Rupert “is probably going to be in the group.” (A source familiar with the deal told CNN that the Murdochs would not be involved individually, but that Fox Corp. could become one of the investors.)

As The New Yorker notes, that Larry Ellison is involved in the deal should come as little surprise, given that the cofounder of Oracle, who is worth more than $370 billion, is a longtime supporter of Trump’s. (In early 2020, Ellison hosted a fundraiser for Trump at his California estate; in November 2020, he reportedly participated in a call about contesting the results of the election. Meanwhile, Ellison’s son, David, is now the chairman and CEO of Paramount after his company completed its merger with Paramount Global in August; the deal was approved by the FCC in July shortly after Paramount-owned 60 Minutes agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit against the company. The same month, Paramount-owned CBS canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, claiming it was “purely a financial decision.”