On Monday, Feb. 3, Donald Trump signed an executive order to set up a sovereign wealth fund for the country. A sovereign wealth fund, which is already in place in countries like Norway and Saudi Arabia, is essentially a state-owned investment fund. It is used to invest in things like real estate, stocks, and shares.
However, Trump has a different idea for US funds, as CNN reports that he may well use it to buy TikTok. “As an example, TikTok, we’re going to be doing something, perhaps, with TikTok and perhaps not,” Trump said.
“If we make the right deal, we’ll do it. Otherwise, we won’t. And we might put that in the sovereign wealth fund, whatever we make. Or if we do a partnership with very wealthy people. A lot of options.”
There are, indeed, a lot of options for the purchase of TikTok. Reportedly, those in the running include Microsoft, Frank McCourt, MrBeast, and Perplexity AI. However, while the app isn’t short on offers, it’ll take a lot to convince ByteDance to relinquish its share in the app — even if, as Trump suggests, this ends up being a 50-50 deal.
After the “buy or sell” law’s latest extension, Trump has until April 5 to finalize a deal with TikTok — although he ambitiously said earlier this month that he could do it in 30 days.
But will this newly established fund really buy TikTok? The complicated logistics, such as where they will even be able to find the billions of dollars necessary, make it all feel a little bit too far-fetched. But only time will tell.
