Trump suggests Murdochs will have role in new TikTok deal

In an interview taped Friday on Fox News’s The Sunday Briefing, Trump was asked to name the individuals investing in TikTok. The White House announced on Saturday that the US operations of TikTok will be majority-owned and controlled by American investors including Oracle Corp., Andreessen Horowitz and private equity firm Silver Lake Management LLC.

The deal was finalized in a phone call on Friday between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the White House said the arrangement would be signed in the coming days.

“I hate to tell you this, but a man named Lachlan is involved. Lachlan is, that’s a very unusual name, Lachlan Murdoch,” Trump said. “And Rupert is probably going to be in the group. I think they’re going to be in the group.”

Trump also mentioned Larry Ellison, the chairman of Oracle, and Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Inc.

The TikTok deal — designed to comply with a bipartisan law that went into effect in January 2025 requiring parent company ByteDance Ltd. to divest from TikTok in the US — would see ByteDance with a less than 20% stake. 

Neither the Murdochs, who control News Corp., nor Dell were mentioned in the White House announcement issued a day after the interview was taped.

A person familiar with the matter said Fox Corp. will be involved in the TikTok deal as opposed to the Murdochs individually.

A messages seeking comment to Dell was not immediately returned.

Under the deal, Americans would hold six of the seven board seats for TikTok, the app’s algorithm would be controlled in the US and Oracle would act as TikTok’s security provider and monitor the app for safety, working with the US government.