By Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg and Brian Schwartz

President Trump said Sunday that media executive Lachlan Murdoch and his father, Rupert Murdoch, could be joining the team investing in TikTok's U.S. operations.

"A man named Lachlan is involved," Trump said on Fox News's "The Sunday Briefing," adding, "Lachlan Murdoch."

He went on to say that he believed Rupert Murdoch "is probably going to be in the group. I think they're going to be in the group."

Rupert Murdoch privately told executives working on the deal for the video-sharing app that he wanted to own a small stake in the company if an agreement could be reached, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. This person noted that such an investment may not be among the bigger holdings in the new entity.

Another person familiar with the matter said that if there is an investment in TikTok, that investment would take place at Fox Corp.;

Representatives from the White House didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.

Lachlan Murdoch is chair of News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal, and is also executive chair and chief executive of Fox News parent Fox Corp.

Rupert Murdoch is chairman emeritus of News Corp and Fox Corp.

Rupert Murdoch is a named defendant in a defamation lawsuit that Trump filed this summer against Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones and parent company News Corp. The Journal published an article in July about a letter bearing Trump's signature that was included in a 2003 birthday album for Jeffrey Epstein. Trump denied writing the letter. A Dow Jones spokeswoman has said, "We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit."

Last week, Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping approved a preliminary agreement for a group of investors to take control of TikTok's U.S. operations.

Under the arrangement, a group of new TikTok investors and existing backers would own roughly 80% of the entity, with ByteDance's ownership dropping below 20% to comply with a U.S. law passed last year, the Journal previously reported.

The consortium of new investors includes private-equity firm Silver Lake and cloud-computing firm Oracle and would own about half of the company. Existing ByteDance investors, including Susquehanna International, KKR and General Atlantic, would hold around 30%.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News's "Saturday in America" that the board controlling the app in the U.S. would have seven seats, with six held by Americans. She said Oracle will oversee data and privacy, and "the algorithm will also be controlled by America as well."

Leavitt said she anticipates the deal will be signed "in the coming days."

Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at Jeffrey.Trachtenberg@wsj.com and Brian Schwartz at brian.schwartz@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 21, 2025 14:34 ET (18:34 GMT)

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