Steven Mnuchin, former treasury secretary under President Trump and Hollywood producer, said he’s assembling an investor group to acquire TikTok — although there’s no clear indication he could reach a deal with TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, to buy the popular app.
Mnuchin’s comments come a day after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill — by a wide margin — that would effectively ban TikTok unless China-based ByteDance sold off its ownership stake. The measure now goes to the Senate, where prospects of the legislation are far less certain. Mnuchin floated the idea to buy TikTok in a segment Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin said. “It’s a great business, and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok.” He added, “This should be owned by U.S. businesses. There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China.”
Mnuchin was a prolific film financier, whose producing credits include “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “American Sniper,” before being confirmed as treasury secretary in 2017 during the Trump administration.
Reps for TikTok and ByteDance didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
More to come.
