Trump claims a “group of very wealthy people” is lined up to buy TikTok’s US operations, but he hasn’t revealed who they are

TikTok was briefly banned in the US back in January 2025, but the ban got pushed back to give its parent company, ByteDance, time to sell off its US operations. The new deadline is mid-September. Now, President Donald Trump says there’s a buyer lined up – a “group of very wealthy people” – but he hasn’t shared any names yet.

TikTok's future in the US is close to resolution

This has been going for a while now. The conflict between TikTok and the US government began in 2020 during Trump’s first administration, when he signed an executive order to ban TikTok in the US unless it got sold to an American company. TikTok tried working out a deal with Oracle and Walmart to create something called “TikTok Global,” but that deal never really took off. Legal challenges helped delay the ban for a while.

The urgency now comes from a 2024 US law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations over national security concerns. It seems this long-standing issue might finally be approaching a resolution.

Related:Texas aims to ban anyone under 18 from social media. Starting in 2026, Apple and Google apps will require age verification

On June 29, 2025, President Trump revealed in a Fox News interview (Reauters shared a clip of the video) that there’s a buyer for TikTok’s US operations, and he’s waiting on China’s approval. But when asked who’s the buyer, he simply said: “I’ll tell you in about two weeks.”

While the details remain vague, at least things seem to be moving forward. Between new tariffs on imported goods, Trump’s threat of a 25% tariff on iPhones unless Apple shifts manufacturing to the US, and now this TikTok deal, it’s obvious we’re in for even more major changes in the next few years.

• TikTok
• Donald Trump