President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that would help clear the way for a coalition of investors to run an American version of TikTok, one that is separate from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, so that it can keep operating in the United States. For several months, the administration has been actively seeking non-Chinese investors for this new U.S. TikTok entity, which Vice President JD Vance announced would be valued at an impressive $14 billion.
This proposed deal seeks to bring TikTok into compliance with a federal law enacted in January, which banned the app due to fears that the Chinese government could exploit it to access sensitive American user data or disseminate propaganda. Despite previous delays in enforcing this ban, Thursday’s order sets a clear deadline of mid-January for negotiators to finalize the terms. Vice President Vance emphasized the positive implications of the agreement, stating, “This deal truly means that Americans can continue to enjoy TikTok, but with significantly increased confidence. Their data will be secure, and the platform will not be weaponized for propaganda against our citizens.”
President Trump highlighted the caliber of the incoming investors, noting that the U.S. TikTok venture would be backed by ‘American investors, American companies, great ones, great investors.’ However, sources close to the negotiations indicate that an Emirati investment firm is also slated to join the consortium of companies investing in the new American TikTok entity. According to the same sources, MGX, the Emirati firm, would be part of a group including prominent U.S. companies such as tech titan Oracle and investment powerhouse Silver Lake. Additionally, President Trump revealed that media mogul Rupert Murdoch and technology CEO Michael Dell are also participating as investors. Neither MGX nor Fox Corporation responded immediately to requests for comment, while Dell Technologies chose to decline comment.
This investment by MGX underscores a growing trend of Emirati financial support for initiatives linked to Mr. Trump. Representatives from the Gulf State have recently committed a staggering $1.4 trillion to the U.S. economy over the next decade. Notably, MGX previously announced a $2 billion deposit into a cryptocurrency startup established by the Trump family. These discussions around TikTok and the MGX crypto investment occurred concurrently with the Emiratis’ efforts to acquire advanced artificial intelligence chips. The Biden administration had previously restricted these sales due to concerns over the Gulf State’s connections to China. However, the Emiratis had been actively lobbying the Trump administration to revise U.S. policy, aiming to develop their own data centers and establish themselves as a significant force in AI.
During President Trump’s visit to Abu Dhabi in May, his administration reached an agreement to sell 500,000 AI chips to the Emiratis. These chips are intended for a data center campus projected to be one of the largest globally. Interestingly, MGX, involved in the TikTok investment talks for months, is one of several companies in the deal poised to gain from the Emirates’ ambitious data center project. Oracle, a key cloud computing provider and TikTok investor, is set to construct a data center in the Emirates with an estimated cost of $20 billion. Similarly, Silver Lake, another investment firm backing TikTok, holds a stake in G42, an Emirati AI company that is a partner in the data center initiative.
While no direct evidence suggests that the chip deal was a quid pro quo for other transactions, two Democratic senators have formally requested investigations by inspectors general at the Commerce and State Departments. They aim to determine if Trump administration officials breached ethics regulations in these multibillion-dollar deals with the Emiratis. President Trump previously indicated that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had approved the preliminary framework for a TikTok deal. Although a report from a Chinese state news agency was less explicit, it suggested that Mr. Xi was open to a commercial resolution for the app.