By Bess Levin
Copyright vanityfair
But who, exactly, will be in charge of TikTok’s US-based operations (and the data of millions of American users)? In an interview with Fox News that aired on Sunday, Trump revealed that the group will involve at least one of his favorite billionaires—and potentially another who might be surprising to those keeping tabs on the people and organizations with whom the president is feuding. “You know, they’re very well-known people. And Larry Ellison is one of them,” Trump said. “He’s involved. He’s a great guy. Michael Dell is involved. I hate to tell you this, but a man named Lachlan is involved,” Trump said on The Sunday Briefing, referring to the younger Murdoch. He added that Rupert “is probably going to be in the group.” (A source familiar with the deal told CNN that the Murdochs would not be involved individually, but that Fox Corp. could become one of the investors.)
As The New Yorker notes, that Larry Ellison is involved in the deal should come as little surprise, given that the cofounder of Oracle, who is worth more than $370 billion, is a longtime supporter of Trump’s. (In early 2020, Ellison hosted a fundraiser for Trump at his California estate; in November 2020, he reportedly participated in a call about contesting the results of the election. Meanwhile, Ellison’s son, David, is now the chairman and CEO of Paramount after his company completed its merger with Paramount Global in August; the deal was approved by the FCC in July shortly after Paramount-owned 60 Minutes agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit against the company. The same month, Paramount-owned CBS canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, claiming it was “purely a financial decision.”
More of a shock is Trump singling out Rupert Murdoch. Not because Fox News hasn’t spent years convincing its viewers that Trump is an emperor-god but because back in July the president sued Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal for at least $10 billion, claiming that the outlet defamed him when it reported he’d sent sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein a lewd birthday card two decades ago, which Trump claims never happened. (The House Oversight Committee has since released what House Democrats say is the birthday card in question, which was provided to the committee by Epstein’s estate; Trump and his allies continue to maintain the whole thing is a hoax. A spokeswoman for Dow Jones, which owns the Journal, said in July, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting.”)
For his part, Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell is neither being sued for 11 figures by the president nor does he appear to be as tight with the guy as Ellison. Over the years, he’s donated to both Republicans and Democrats. After the January 6 attack on the Capitol, he wrote on social media, “As Americans, each of us has a civic duty to respect and honor the peaceful transition of power, which is at the heart of the American political system and our way of life. This attempted subversion of our democracy is an attack against us all, and we must stand together, united, in the defense of our values and our country.” (He also reposted a statement from the Business Roundtable that called on Trump to “put an end to the chaos and facilitate the peaceful transition of power.”) Four years later, he declared, “Congratulations to President Trump on a successful campaign and election win. We look forward to continued progress and opportunity under his leadership and working together toward a strong and unified future for all.”
Do any of these men personally use TikTok? That’s not clear, but they do have a combined net worth of more than $500 billion, a figure that will undoubtedly rise if they become the app’s new overlords. Pretty nice situation for friends (and sometimes foes) of the president.
