Trump's Plan to 'Save TikTok': Give The U.S. 50% Ownership

President-elect Donald Trump's plan to "save TikTok" is to request ByteDance hand over "a 50% ownership position" to the United States or face being banned in 90 days (or less).

Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social: 

"I'm asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.

Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.

I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions.

Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose."

This is just a "good cop, bad cop" routine.

As far as I can tell, the only difference between this proposal and the ban signed into law is that he'll allow them to keep some equity.



According to TikTok:

"ByteDance is a privately-held global company, roughly 60 percent owned by global institutional investors (such as Blackrock, General Atlantic, and Susquehanna International Group), 20 percent owned by the company's founders, and 20 percent owned by its employees—including over 7,000 U.S.-based employees. It is not owned or controlled by any government or state-controlled entity."

What constitutes "the US" getting a 50% ownership position isn't even clear.

That said, what is clear is Trump's not actually interested in reversing the law, he just wants "Americans" (perhaps like his donor Jeff Yass?) to take an even bigger slice of the TikTok pie.

https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=64817