Trump says Michael Dell is part of the team buying TikTok, with Larry Ellison and maybe some Murdochs
- Reference: 1758521829
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/09/22/dell_tiktok_acquisition_interest/
- Source link:
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Trump said Oracle founder Larry Ellison is one of a group bidding to acquire TikTok USA, confirming remarks his press secretary Karoline Leavitt [1]made the previous day when she said the USA and China have finalized a deal to sell the app, that Ellison is involved, and that the deal will see the app’s famously addictive algorithm held by American interests.
Oracle’s cloud already [2]hosts all traffic to the social network from within the USA.
[3]
Leavitt said the deal means TikTok’s American operation will be majority US-owned, and that US citizens will occupy six of its seven board seats.
[4]
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Trump also said “Michael Dell is involved” without offering any further information. A merchant bank called BDT & MSD Partners [6]states that it “has invested on behalf of Dell Technologies Founder Michael Dell, his family, and other like-minded investors” since its founding in 2009. It is unclear if BDT & MSD Partners would handle Dell, the man’s, involvement with TikTok, or if this deal has something to do with Dell, the company.
Perhaps both are involved. US law requires TikTok’s operator ByteDance to find a US buyer for TikTok’s stateside operations, on national security grounds. If TikTok ends up in the US-owned-and-run Oracle cloud, running on infrastructure built by America’s Dell using locally sourced parts whenever possible, it would go a long way towards showing the American public that the social network is no longer a security risk.
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The Register anticipates a future Dell product that offers TikTok-grade hyperscale sovereign SaaS capabilities.
Trump also said he thinks Lachlan Murdoch, the scion of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, “is probably going to be in the group”.
[8]Mega-and-MAGA deals position Oracle's Larry Ellison to overtake Elon
[9]Trump threatens extra tariffs, tech export bans, for any nation that dares to regulate Big Tech
[10]Oracle just signed one mystery customer that will double its cloud revenue in 2028
[11]Australia to let Big Tech choose its own adventure to enact kids social media ban
News Limited famously acquired the early social network MySpace for $580 million in 2005 and offloaded it six years later for just $35 million after the likes of Facebook and Twitter rose to prominence. The media company has since made great use of social media to promote its many outlets and properties.
Trump and Leavitt both pointed to TikTok’s role in connecting the president to young voters ahead of last year’s presidential election and argued that finding a way to keep the app operating in the USA benefits political discourse and the US economy. ®
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[1] https://www.foxnews.com/video/6379847651112
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/20/tiktok_usa_oracle/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aNEeNY0vNwaP7h6eJlBMZQAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNEeNY0vNwaP7h6eJlBMZQAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aNEeNY0vNwaP7h6eJlBMZQAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://bdtmsd.com/#our-story
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNEeNY0vNwaP7h6eJlBMZQAAARA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/10/oracle_q1_results/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/26/trump_tech_tax_threat/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/01/oracle_cloud_ai/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/17/australia_kids_social_ban_guidance/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
And tilting the algorithm like Twitter's to make MAGA voices louder and silence any dissent. Good luck getting any content mentioning Trump and Epstein to go viral on Tik Tok once Trump's cronies get control of it!
The thing that should worry all Americans is that Trump has (like any president) limited time. Much time is spent on admin, or pointless and unproductive theatre (eg state visit to the UK), or in his case cheating at golf and munching burgers, and spouting shit on social media. We all know Trump is routinely interfering in everything that catches his attention or prickles his thing, papery orange skin. Whether that's who buys Tiktok, individual appointments, getting TV presenters sacked, creating his own digital coinery, choosing tasteless gold decor for the Oval Office, slashing science and research funding because he's too stupid to understand it, etc etc.........but what that has to mean is that he isn't doing much if any of the proper statecraft that all previous presidents have tried to do, and that occurs unseen.
The damage he's actively doing is obvious. But I suspect his sins of omission could well turn out to be even more damaging and long lasting. But hey, America is a democracy, and the people voted for this disgusting and unfit specimen, so presumably want whatever outcomes are silently heading their way.
Sell the electronic development and manufactoring powerhouse Taiwan...
... to China in exchange for a stupid propaganda platform.
What could go wrong?
As Hannah Arendt pointed out, totalirsm is not even utilitarian - it's often anti-utilitarian, because the only imporant thing is the "IDEA".
Dell and Oracle
Can't wait for the horrid enterprise-software style app. Best viewed with IE^WEdge in compatibility mode.
Wasn't this the opening of a James Bond movie?
The scene was sort of a board meeting of all the major players in SPECTRE as I recall.
Re: Wasn't this the opening of a James Bond movie?
Yup. This would then be the second time in the White House, the first time being the Russian presence straight after Trump got there the first time.
Let's be clear here: the US is forcing the sale of a foreign owned company to US entities because it's successful. The logical advice for any future foreign investments in the us is thus "avoid". That said, Hyundai and LG are unlikely to invest that much more and turn a profit if ICE keeps deporting the people busy setting up their factories because they're not rednecks.
Re: Wasn't this the opening of a James Bond movie?
At least the villains in the Bond films were urbane and sophisticated, words that will never be associated with surnames like Trump, Epstein, Murdoch, Musk, or any of the disgusting lickspittles that form the US Cabinet.
Re: Wasn't this the opening of a James Bond movie?
Have an upvote for "lickspittle". It has been far too long since I saw that word used in the wild.
Rosie
Dell on TikTok, may get something resembling intelligent support now, in 30 seconds videos, made by hipster technology influencers, speaking some sort short, phrased English.
Year1
Oracle: We see that a contact in your phone is using TikTok, you are now going to be charged a license fee for that user. any additional users mean no charge
User: But I don't have or use TikTok
Oracle: pay us now
Year 2
Oracle: We see one of your contact's contacts are using Tiktok. You will now be charged a license fee for that user......
Corruption at it's finest and back hand deals.