Fox Corp., led by chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch, is among investors negotiating to acquire a stake in the carved-off TikTok U.S. entity.
President Donald Trump revealed the Murdochs’ involvement in the TikTok deal on Sunday, as part of his administration’s months-long effort to “save” TikTok by bringing its ownership structure in compliance with U.S. law. In an interview that aired on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing,” the president said Lachlan Murdoch and his father, Rupert, are “probably going to be in the group, I think they’re going to be in the group.” Trump also said Oracle founder billionaire Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell are in the mix as prospective TikTok U.S. owners.
Reps for Fox Corp. did not respond to a request for comment. The value of the deal forming TikTok U.S. is unknown, as is the percentage stake each investor would potentially own.
Trump is “expected to sign an executive order later this week to approve the proposed deal,” Axios reported Monday. The Trump administration wants to collect a “multibillion-dollar” fee from TikTok’s new U.S. investors, per the Wall Street Journal.
Under a U.S. law that went into effect Jan. 19, 2025 — passed with overwhelming bipartisan support over fears TikTok represents a national security threat to America — it is illegal for U.S. companies to host or distribute TikTok as long as it remains controlled by Chinese parent company ByteDance. The new ownership structure of TikTok U.S. would reduce ByteDance’s ownership in the entity to under the 20% threshold specified by the law.
Trump told reporters on Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping approved a deal for TikTok U.S., and a China’s top trade negotiator said the two countries had agreed in principle on a framework for the transaction. Trump last week delayed enforcement of the divest-or-ban law — for the fourth time — until Dec. 16 as the parties work to finalize the deal.
ByteDance and TikTok have not commented on details of the investment structure for TikTok U.S. or its technical operation. In a statement Friday, ByteDance said, “We thank President Xi Jinping and President Donald J. Trump for their efforts to preserve TikTok in the United States. ByteDance will work in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users through TikTok U.S.”
It’s not clear whether Fox Corp., in the event it acquires a stake in TikTok U.S., would treat it as a passive investment or seek to integrate some of its assets (such as free streaming service Tubi) with the TikTok app. Earlier this month, Lachlan Murdoch won the succession battle against his siblings to hold voting power over Fox Corp. and News Corp.
TikTok’s U.S. business would be 80% owned and controlled by an investor consortium including Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz, the Journal reported last week. In addition, current ByteDance investors including Susquehanna International, KKR and General Atlantic, would be part of the ownership group. The new TikTok U.S. company would have a U.S.-dominated board that includes a member designated by the U.S. government, per the Journal report. Oracle already provides computing and data management services for TikTok in the U.S.
Under the Trump administration’s proposal, ByteDance would license the TikTok content-recommendation algorithm to the U.S. entity, which would operate it separately from the Chinese-controlled version of the technology.
