Steven T. Mnuchin, 77th U.S. Secretary of Treasury; Founder and Managing Partner, Liberty Strategic Capital, speaks at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 2, 2023.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he is putting together an investor group to try to buy TikTok.
Mnuchin’s statements come shortly after the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would force ByteDance to divest TikTok or the social media site would face a ban in the U.S.
“I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “It’s a great business and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok.”
The bill is now headed to the Senate, where its future uncertain, though President Joe Biden’s administration has indicated that he will sign the legislation if it passes.
“This should be owned by U.S. businesses. There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China,” Mnuchin said.
Mnuchin did not specify who the other investors would be in such a deal or the potential valuation for the social media site.
This would not be the first high profile deal Mnuchin has been involved in since leaving the Treasury. Last week, Mnuchin’s Liberty Strategic Capital was a lead investor in a $1 billion capital raise to stabilize New York Community Bancorp.
Mnuchin served as Treasury Secretary under former President Donald Trump. That administration also took an antagonistic stance toward TikTok, which ultimately resulted in ByteDance striking a data partnership with Oracle. Trump has since reversed course and come out against a TikTok ban.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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