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The social media service Tiktok has about a billion users. SHEET PICTURE / AFP
U.S. President Donald Trump wants the state to slice the purchase price of social media service Tiktok in exchange for allowing software company Microsoft to purchase U.S. operations of the Chinese service. The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, among others, report on the matter. Trump spoke at the news conference Monday.
Trump says he made his claim to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a call over the weekend.
– The United States should receive a large part of that trade amount, because we make it possible. It would come from a sale that no one but me thought, but I think so, and I think it’s fair, Trump said, according to France Télécom.
According to Trump, the U.S. share could come from Microsoft or another U.S. buyer or Chinese vendor of the service, Bytedance. However, it is not known how the parties to the transaction could be forced to do so or how the share would be paid in practice, as France Télécom has not been consulted before.
Trump has threatened to ban the use of Tiktok in the U.S. due to privacy concerns if its U.S. operations are not sold to a U.S. company in a timely manner. Trump has said the deadline is September 15th.
Microsoft has not commented on the claim other than in a blog post after Trump and Nadella’s call. In the letter, the company says it is committed to ensuring “appropriate financial benefits for the United States and its Treasury Department.”