Trump Signs TikTok Deal With Financial Ties to His Own Interests

Trump signed an executive order on September 25, 2025 to finalize a deal transferring TikTok US operations to an American investor group led by Oracle and other firms. The deal required the US government to collect a multibillion-dollar fee from American investors, which legal experts called extortion. Trump had previously diverted a bipartisan TikTok bill to structure a deal where assets went to a consortium with his direct financial ties. The New Yorker described the arrangement as crony capitalism, noting that firms connected to Trump allies profited from the transaction while framing it as national security. The deal reversed Trumps earlier executive order attempting to ban TikTok, demonstrating the transactional nature of his technology policy. Critics noted the pattern: threaten action, negotiate personal benefit, then claim victory.