Trump says billionaires are ready to buy TikTok — but ByteDance still has to say yes

TikTok’s been living on borrowed time in the U.S., and now Donald Trump says he might have found it a lifeline.

Since Congress passed a law in 2024 demanding TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, sell the app or face a nationwide ban, the platform's future has been hanging by a thread. Lawmakers pushed the bill over national security concerns, citing fears that the Chinese government could use the app to access U.S. user data or influence what people see.

That law was set to take effect in January 2025. But since returning to office, President Donald Trump has stepped in multiple times, delaying enforcement on three occasions to give TikTok more time to find a buyer. In fact, TikTok briefly went offline in the U.S. in January ahead of the law’s initial deadline, only to return after Trump extended the timeline.

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He says he didn’t want to just yank the app away from millions of users (many of them young voters who helped him win). Instead, he’s been trying to buy TikTok some time to make a deal.

But, so far, no deal has been made, and the delays have sparked criticism from lawmakers who say the White House is undermining the intent of the law.

Now, Trump says there may finally be a breakthrough.

In a recent Fox News interview, he claimed a group of “very wealthy people” is ready to buy the U.S. operations of TikTok. “I’ll tell you in about two weeks,” he said, offering no details about the group or the terms of the deal. What he did say is that any sale would likely need the Chinese government’s approval—something he believes will happen: “I think President Xi will probably do it.”

If ByteDance agrees to sell and China signs off, TikTok could continue operating in the U.S. under new ownership. That’s the good news for the app’s millions of American users and content creators.

Bad news is ByteDance has shown no clear willingness to divest, besides China would need to sign off, too.

That’s a big “if.” A previous deal fell apart earlier this year when Trump slapped tariffs back on China. There’s no word yet on whether the new mystery buyer is someone already at the table—big names like Oracle’s Larry Ellison, AppLovin, and Perplexity AI have all shown interest.

There was even talk of a strange hybrid deal where American investors buy TikTok and sell half of it to the U.S. government. That idea’s still floating in the air somewhere.

In the meantime, the clock is ticking. The new deadline is September 17. If no deal happens by then, the app could be forced off U.S. app stores, for real this time –unless Trump intervenes again.

Trump says he thinks Chinese President Xi Jinping “will probably do it.” But that’s far from a guarantee.

For now, TikTok’s fate still rests in the hands of two governments, one former reality star, and a few unnamed billionaires. Not exactly a smooth ride—but it might be the only one left.