Ex-Treasury Secretary Mnuchin wants to buy TikTok: ‘I’m going to put together a group’
NY Post
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin revealed Thursday that he’s building a team of investors to potentially buy TikTok after House lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill that would force its China-based parent ByteDance to sell.
Mnuchin expressed support for the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which gives ByteDance six months to divest its stake in the company or face a total ban in the US. As The Post reported, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) faces intense pressure to bring it up for a speedy vote.
“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 former President Donald Trump’s Cabinet when he issued an executive order requiring ByteDance to sell its stake in TikTok or be banned. President Biden later paused that order.
When asked if he had already teamed up with investors, Mnuchin said he was “working on it” and had “spoken to a bunch of people,” but did not reveal any names.
“This should be owned by US businesses,” Mnuchin added. “There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a US company own something like this in China.”
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