President Trump said Sunday that his administration is in talks with four groups about a potential TikTok sale, with less than a month until a ban on the popular video-sharing platform is set to go into effect.
“We’re dealing with four different groups, and a lot of people want it, and it’s up to me,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
When asked whether there will be a deal soon, the president said, “It could be.”
A TikTok ban was initially set to go into effect on Jan. 19, after large bipartisan majorities in Congress passed a bill requiring the app’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to divest or face a U.S. ban. It was signed into law by President Biden last April.
However, Biden declined to enforce the law in his final days in office, and Trump signed an executive order halting enforcement for 75 days shortly after his inauguration. He now has until April 5 to reach a deal to keep the app available in the U.S.
As the deadline nears, Trump has indicated that there could be some flexibility.
When asked by a reporter last Thursday if he plans to extend the deadline if a deal is not hammered out in time, Trump said, “Probably, yeah.”
“We have a lot of interest in TikTok. China is going to play a role, so hopefully China will approve of the deal,” he said while speaking to the media in the Oval Office. “But they’re going to play a role.”
Several groups have expressed interest in purchasing TikTok. Former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, alongside “Shark Tank” star and investor Kevin O’Leary, have made a formal offer for the app. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian announced last week that he was joining the bid as well.
A group of investors led by Jesse Tinsley, founder and CEO of employer.com, also launched a bid in January.
Trump previously floated Oracle founder Larry Ellison as a potential buyer and said he would not be opposed to close ally Elon Musk purchasing the app amid earlier reports that Chinese officials were considering a sale to the Tesla CEO.
