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Potential TikTok Deal Gathers Momentum with High-Profile Investors

Potential TikTok Deal Gathers Momentum with High-Profile Investors
source: gettyimages
September 21, 2025

The Trump administration has increasingly discussed a potential deal to spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations, with President Donald Trump indicating that prominent figures such as Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch might be involved.

During an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump stated, “A man named Lachlan is involved… Rupert Murdoch is probably gonna be in the group, I think they’re going to be in the group.” He also mentioned that Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell are likely to participate in the deal.

While the specifics regarding whether these individuals are investing personally or through their respective companies remain unclear, recent reports suggest Fox Corp — owned by Lachlan Murdoch and led by Rupert Murdoch — is engaged in discussions to join an investor group backing TikTok’s U.S. spinoff from ByteDance.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Fox News that an agreement has been reached but not yet signed, to transfer TikTok’s U.S. operations under majority American ownership. She indicated that Americans would hold six of seven board seats in the new structure, with the platform’s algorithm also under U.S. control.

Leavitt added, “All of those details have already been agreed upon; now we just need this deal to be signed, which I anticipate will happen in the coming days.”

Key Players in the TikTok Spin-off

Bloomberg reports that new investors may include Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and private equity firm Silver Lake Management. Oracle is expected to oversee the security and safety of the app, while ByteDance will retain less than 20% ownership in the spun-off company.

A federal bill passed last year, set to ban TikTok in January, had caused the app to go dark in the U.S. before Trump extended the deadline for ByteDance to sell the platform. Trump claimed that China’s President Xi Jinping had approved the deal, and TikTok issued a statement thanking both Xi and Trump for their efforts to keep TikTok accessible to American users.

> “ByteDance will work in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users through TikTok U.S.,” the company stated.

Future of TikTok in the U.S.

With ongoing negotiations and high-profile investor involvement, the future of TikTok’s U.S. operations appears to be on the brink of a significant transition, potentially leading to greater American control over the platform’s data and content algorithms.

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This article has been updated with comments from Trump about Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch.

Anthony Ha is TechCrunch’s weekend editor, with a background in technology and local journalism. He resides in New York City.

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