OAN’s James Meyers
11:33 AM -Thursday, March 14, 2024
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin revealed on Thursday that he is in the process of putting together a team of investors to buy the popular yet controversial social media app TikTok.
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Mnuchin showed support for the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” which gives ByteDance, the company owner of TikTok, six months to relieve its stake in the company or face a complete ban in the U.S.
This comes after the House passed a bill by an overwhelming majority to ban TikTok in the country. The bill will now have to be approved in the Senate and signed into law by President Joe Biden.
“I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin said during a Thursday appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “I understand the technology, it’s a great business and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok.”
Mnuchin was a member of Donald Trump’s cabinet when he previously issued an executive order requiring ByteDance to sell its stake in TikTok or be banned.
After being asked if he had already teamed up with investors, Mnuchin responded by saying he was “working on it” but had “spoken to a bunch of people.” However, he did not reveal any names.
“This should be owned by U.S. businesses,” Mnuchin added. “There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a US company own something like this in China.”
In the meantime, TikTok has opposed the prohibition and declared that, should the measure proceed to become law, owners of the app will “stage a legal battle” to stop it.
According to Bloomberg, TikTok’s U.S. operations is worth somewhere between $40 billion to $50 billion.
“I think the Chinese will be fine selling it so long as there’s not a technology transfer along the way,” Mnunchin said.
Additionally, Trump has been outspoken on the ban, claiming that Facebook (Meta) would become too powerful if TikTok users were forced to leave the app.
“I don’t think this should be controlled by any of the big U.S. tech companies,” Mnuchin added. “Users love it. It shouldn’t be shut down.”
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