The Trump administration is set to collect $10 billion from investors as part of an arrangement to establish a US-controlled version of TikTok, according to reports first published by the Wall Street Journal.
The sum functions as a transaction fee, payable by a consortium of administration-friendly investors who acquired TikTok’s American operations from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. The group includes software giant Oracle, Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX, and private equity firm Silver Lake.
An initial $2.5 billion was paid into the US Treasury when the deal was finalised in January, with further instalments to follow until the full $10 billion is reached.
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The arrangement traces back to an executive order Trump signed in September, reflecting longstanding bipartisan concern that ByteDance’s ownership of one of America’s most widely used social media platforms posed a national security risk.
“It’s owned by Americans, and very sophisticated Americans,” Trump said at the signing. “This is going to be American operated all the way.”
The scale of the fee is striking. Vice President JD Vance has valued the US version of TikTok at around $14 billion, which would put the government’s cut at roughly 70% of the deal. Despite that, TikTok will continue to operate freely in the US under the agreement, though investors will be required to share profits with ByteDance.
The TikTok deal is part of a broader pattern of the Trump administration taking financial stakes in private sector arrangements, including positions in chipmaker Intel and USA Rare Earth, a critical minerals mining company.