US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his eldest son, Lachlan, could be among the investors who will take control of TikTok in the United States.

The United States has forcefully sought to take TikTok’s US operations out of the hands of Chinese parent company ByteDance for national security reasons.

Since returning to power in January, Trump has repeatedly delayed implementation of the ban while a deal has been sought.

He has negotiated with Beijing to sell the platform’s US operations to a consortium of investors he describes as “patriots,” including ally and tech giant Oracle’s boss Larry Ellison, and entrepreneur Michael Dell.

On Sunday, he added more names to that list.

“I hate to tell you this, but a man named Lachlan is involved… Lachlan Murdoch, I believe,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.

“And Rupert is, is probably going to be in the group. I think they’re going to be in the group. A couple of others, really great people, very prominent people.”

Earlier this month, right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s children reached a settlement in their long-running legal dispute over control of the media empire, cementing his eldest son Lachlan’s leadership.

Lachlan Murdoch, who officially took control of Fox News and News Corp as part of the deal, is Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son.

The elder Murdoch built a right-wing conservative media empire spanning the United States, Britain, and Australia.

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On Saturday, the White House said the board of the new company that would control TikTok’s US operations would be dominated by American citizens, and that a deal could be signed “in the coming days.”

AFP