TSR Updatez: It looks like TikTok may have a fighting chance after all. Donald Trump, who told reporters Friday that he’d be banning the popular social media app, is now giving a deadline of September 15th for the app to be bought by a U.S. company or be shut down.
Reportedly, there were talks already in place for Microsoft to buy the app from its Chinese owner and initial reports suggested that Trump didn’t care about any such deals being negotiated.
Now, after speaking with Microsoft’s CEO, it seems that Trump is open to TikTok staying in the U.S. as long as the U.S. treasury gets a cut of the deal.
“It can’t be controlled for security reasons by China. Too big, too invasive,” Trump said during a press conference Monday. “Here’s the deal, I don’t mind whether it’s Microsoft or somebody else– a big company, a secure company, a very American company buys it.”
Trump isn’t playing about getting paid either.
“It’s a little bit like the landlord/tenant; without a lease the tenant has nothing, so they pay what’s called ‘key money,’ or they pay something,” Trump said.
Trump specified that he’d prefer TikTok be bought in its entirety, rather than a small part of the app, however.
“But the United States should be reimbursed or should be paid a substantial amount of money, because without the United States they don’t have anything, at least having to do with the 30%.”
ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, valued TikTok at $50 billion, Reuters reported last week.
TikTok’s general manager addressed the possible ban over the weekend.
There’s less than a month-and-a-half for a deal to be made. We’ll keep you posted on any updates.
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