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Trump Plans To Announce 'TikTok America' As US Ban Deadline Looms

• https://www.zerohedge.com, by Tyler Durden

Existing ByteDance investors would retain a 33% stake in the new company, while ByteDance itself would hold approximately 19.9%.

Here are more details from the report:

That structure would put ByteDance's ownership just under the 20% threshold required in the U.S. law passed last year requiring TikTok to sever ties with its parent company or face a ban. With the new structure, Trump could deem a qualified divesture has happened under the law, which was passed by Congress last year and upheld by the Supreme Court.

The planned announcement comes ahead of a Saturday deadline, which Trump set to delay enforcement of the divest-or-ban law. The Trump administration is expected to spell out a timeframe of roughly 90 to 120 days from Wednesday to finalize a deal, the person said. The proposed new company name is not finalized and could change, the person said.

It's unclear which new investors will be involved in the deal. Earlier, media outlets reported that Andreessen Horowitz, Blackstone, Oracle, and Amazon could be taking a stake in TikTok America.  

Update (1328ET):

By late lunch, a report from The New York Times specified that Amazon had submitted a last-minute bid to acquire all of TikTok from its parent company, ByteDance, ahead of the April 5 deadline. In a separate report, CNBC's David Faber indicated that a TikTok deal could be announced today. These two developments come ahead of President Trump's scheduled unveiling of reciprocal tariffs at around 4 p.m. EST. However, no specific timing was provided for when the TikTok deal might be announced. 

Here's more color from the NYT report:

Various parties who have been involved in the talks do not appear to be taking Amazon's bid seriously, the people said. The bid came via an offer letter addressed to Vice President JD Vance and Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Amazon's bid highlights the 11th-hour maneuvering in Washington over TikTok's ownership. Policymakers in both parties have expressed deep national security concerns over the app's Chinese ownership, and passed a law last year to force a sale of TikTok that was set to take effect in January.


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