TikTok. Taken on August 1, 2020. Photo by Solen Feyissa.Vice President JD Vance hopes a ‘high-level’ deal will be reached by the April 5th deadline to keep TikTok up and running in the United States.
In a recent interview with NBC News reporters, Vance said, “There will almost certainly be a high-level agreement that I think satisfies our national security concerns, allows there to be a distinct American TikTok enterprise.”
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order for his administration to find a way forward to “protect national security” without shutting down the social media app used by millions of US citizens. Trump then asked J.D. Vance to lead the efforts to broker TikTok’s sale to a US entity before the deadline in April.
The executive order set a 75-day deadline to find a US buyer. This period ends on 5th April, and Vance is already in talks with potential buyers. Trump has previously mentioned that the administration is discussing the deal with four different groups. However, the Vice President did not identify these groups in his recent interview with NBC.
Vance added that a deadline extension may also be on the table in case a deal is not reached in time. As of yet, ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, hasn’t confirmed any negotiations. Furthermore, it hasn’t officially confirmed its plans to sell the app to a US entity.
Vance said that paperwork might push TikTok deal past its deadline
Vance signaled that clerical issues could possibly push the TikTok agreement past the 75-day period. He said, “Typically, some of these deals that are much smaller and involve much less capital take months to close.”
He further added that the administration is trying to close the deal by April. The one factor that could possibly cause a delay is the hefty paperwork involved in the process. He said, “The deal itself will be very clear, but actually creating those thousands and thousands of pages of legal documents, that’s the one thing that I worry could slip.”
Yet, Vance is hopeful that an extension would not be required. According to him, once the deal is in place, it will satisfy the US national security concerns. In that case, one could argue that “TikTok is operational, and it’s also operational in a way that’s protective of Americans’ data privacy and America’s national security.”
While the four groups in talks haven’t been identified yet, rumors about potential buyers have been thrown around in recent months. Wyoming billionaire Reid Rasner claimed to be in talks with the White House and mentioned that he offered $47.45 billion for the app, which is close to its valuation of approximately $50 billion.
According to a report by The Information, Orcale’s Larry Ellison is the leading contender for the deal. Unnamed sources said that ByteDance wants Trump to base the deal on a revived version of ‘Project Texas.’ This project was a failed effort by TikTok’s parent company to address allegations of spying and propaganda against the US government. ByteDance offered to store the data of US citizens on Oracle servers and even called Oracle to potentially review TikTok’s source code for a safety check.
Previously while speaking to reporters at the White House in January, Trump mentioned that he would be open to Elon Musk or Ellison buying the app. While Ellison hasn’t publicly commented about it, Musk has already stated that he is not interested in TikTok.
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