WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said on June 29 that a group of wealthy U.S. buyers has been identified for TikTok, the video-sharing platform under threat of a U.S. ban due to its Chinese ownership. He added that their identities would be disclosed “in about two weeks.”

“We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way. Very wealthy people. It’s a group of wealthy people,” Trump said in an interview with Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures.

While he did not name the parties involved, Trump hinted that China’s approval may still be required.

“I think President Xi Jinping will probably do it,” he added.

TikTok, owned by Beijing-based tech firm ByteDance, has been caught in the crossfire of escalating U.S.-China tech tensions. In mid-June, Trump extended the deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations by another 90 days or face a full ban.

Though Trump once pushed aggressively for the app to be sold or banned, his stance has softened in recent months. He now claims that TikTok helped him gain support among young voters during the 2024 presidential election.

“I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” he said in an interview with NBC News in May. “If it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension.”

Indeed, after multiple deadline extensions, the latest having passed June 19, Trump has now granted the app a third reprieve. He also stated in May that the group of potential buyers was prepared to offer “a lot of money” for TikTok’s U.S. operations.

However, ByteDance says any agreement would be subject to Chinese law, and it has confirmed ongoing discussions with the U.S. government.

In April, Trump claimed China would have agreed to a TikTok sale if not for disputes over his tariff policies against Beijing.

A U.S. federal law requiring TikTok’s sale or ban on national security grounds was initially set to take effect just before Trump’s January 20 inauguration, but he paused enforcement after taking office—citing both strategic and political reasons.

As the world’s second-most-used app, TikTok boasts nearly 2 billion global users and has become central to political campaigning, particularly among younger demographics.