Trump administration set to receive $10 billion fee for brokering TikTok deal: Report

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is set to receive a roughly $10 ​billion fee from investors in the recently completed deal ‌to take control of TikTok’s U.S. business, the Wall ​Street Journal reported on Friday (March 13), citing people ⁠familiar with the matter.

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TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, in January finalised a deal to establish a majority American-owned joint venture ‌that will secure U.S. data, to avoid a U.S. ban on the short video app used ‌by over 200 million Americans.

TikTok USDS Joint ‌Venture ⁠LLC will secure U.S. user data, apps and ⁠algorithms through data privacy and cybersecurity measures. It disclosed few details about the divestiture.

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U.S. Vice President JD Vance had in September said ​that the new U.S. ‌company will be valued at around $14 billion.

The payment is part of the agreement through which investors friendly with the administration gained control of TikTok’s U.S. operations ‌from ByteDance, WSJ said. It is on ​top of the investments already made to establish a new entity to operate the app ⁠in the U.S.

Investors Oracle, Silver Lake, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and other backers paid about $2.5 billion to the U.S. Treasury ‌Department when the deal closed and are to make a number of subsequent payments until the total reaches $10 billion, per the Journal.

TikTok and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

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Officials from the administration have said the fee is justified, ‌citing Trump’s role in rescuing TikTok’s U.S. operations and guiding ​negotiations with China to complete the deal while tackling lawmakers’ concerns over national security, according to ⁠WSJ.

Earlier this month, Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi ⁠were sued by retail investors in two social media rivals of TikTok seeking to reverse ‌the U.S. president’s approval of a deal by the company’s Chinese owner ByteDance to form a ​majority American-owned joint venture.