Give US gov’t ‘substantial portion’ of TikTok’s sale price: Trump – By Reuters Staff (Al Jazeera) / Aug 4 2020
President Trump says he will ban Chinese video app by September 15 if Microsoft or other US company does not acquire it.
The United States government should get a “substantial portion” of the sale price of the US operations of popular short-video app TikTok, US President Donald Trump said, and warned he will ban the service in the country on September 15 without a sale.
The turnaround came after Trump said last week he was planning to ban the Chinese-owned video app’s US operations as soon as Saturday after initially dismissing a possible sale to Microsoft.
Reuters news agency reported last week that some investors are valuing TikTok at about $50bn, citing people familiar with the matter.
“I did say that if you buy it, whatever the price is that goes to whoever owns it, because I guess it’s China essentially … I said a very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the Treasury of the United States because we’re making it possible for this deal to happen,” Trump said on Monday.
Trump later defended his push for a cut, adding: “Nobody else would be thinking about but me, but that’s the way I think.”
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