US President Donald Trump has announced that there is already a group of investors with sufficient solvency to acquire TikTok, the popular short-form video app. During an interview on Fox News last Sunday, Trump stated, “By the way, we have a buyer for TikTok,” and clarified that the transaction will depend on the approval of the Chinese government, and especially its president, Xi Jinping.
In his statement, Trump avoided naming names and announced that he will reveal the identities of the potential buyers within two weeks. The caution in his words contrasts with his insistence in recent months on forcing the sale of the social network or, failing that, banning it in the United States.
Since January, the president has been postponing legislation that would force ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to divest the app or face a complete ban.
Although Trump has previously mentioned personalities such as Larry Ellison and Elon Musk as possible candidates, this time he simply described the interested parties as “very wealthy people,” without providing further details.
The initial idea he floated last winter was to create a joint venture with the United States holding half the capital, but he has not yet specified how that formula would fit into the final transaction.
Bulletin Boards on TikTok
In parallel with the discussions about the sale, TikTok is internally testing a new messaging tool called “Bulletin Boards”.
This feature allows brands and creators to issue one-way public communications to their followers, with reactions limited to emojis.
Bulletin Boards can include text, images, and video, and function very similarly to the broadcast channels Instagram introduced last year.
The purpose of this addition is to give creators a direct channel to share news, without resorting to stories or regular posts.
Among the first to experiment with it are People magazine, Paris Saint-Germain FC, and the Jonas Brothers. It is still unknown whether TikTok will expand the use of boards generally or add complementary tools, such as polls, as other networks offer.