DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump is obsessed with saving TikTok and one solution he and his people are weighing, bankers say, is the creation of a US sovereign wealth fund to buy the popular video-sharing app from the Chinese, On The Money has learned.
The deal would involve major private equities players, as well as US taxpayer money, according to buzz at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski town.
The bankers definitely want in despite this being a heavy lift, they tell me, because the fees on an estimated $20-plus billion deal could be pretty rich.
Trump’s attempt to override a law with an executive order is a bit legally dubious. From what I hear, it’s going to take more than 75 days to have a deal papered, including figuring out what the Chinese will sell if anything.
The Chinese Communist Party, which controls every Chinese company, won’t give up TikTok’s all-important algorithm, which matches users with various other accounts and allegedly does the data collection.
That means the buyer will need additional funds above and beyond the takeover price to build the platform. Some entrepreneurs have already made wild offers to expedite a sale, including Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” fame and internet hero “Mr. Beast,” aka Jimmy Donaldson.
But Trump will probably have to step in with Chinese president Xi and make this happen in a way that satisfies everyone. Not easy, I am told, because let’s face it, we are global adversaries.
A spokesperson for the Trump administration declined to comment.
Trump’s dance with TikTok is pretty interesting. He made a run at banning the app back in 2020 because he believed its owner, the Chinese company ByteDance, employs an algo that allegedly spied on American users for Beijing.
The ban didn’t happen but it did under Biden. Then the app briefly went dark just before the inauguration.
Reenter Trump, the ultimate dealmaker of “The Apprentice” and “Art of the Deal” fame. Trump says he now likes the platform; he believes it helped him gain an edge with younger voters during the election.
He gave the app a reprieve when he issued another executive order Monday night giving ByteDance 75 days to find a solution that satisfies the Biden law (which passed with bipartisan support), in order to stay alive in the US.
Lots of moving parts. That’s why people on Wall Street (and those in Davos with me) are still betting that TikTok might go dark for good after a degree of sound and fury that ultimately signifies nothing.
Overall, the mood here in Davos – the epicenter of globalism – is quite interesting this year as the jet-setting elite descended on the quaint ski village.
There is not a lot of fear and loathing of MAGA among the CEOs, bankers, oligarchs, Middle East money reporters – their many armed guards – as was the case back in 2016 when Donald Trump first ran and won.
The globalists expect trade indigestion with tariffs, but nothing existential. They also see a strong leader in Trump, a stark contrast from Biden’s dreadful and desultory presidency. They like lower taxes and regulations.
They also like the notion of banking on Trump’s plan to try and lift at least part of TikTok.
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