Trump administration is allegedly collecting $10 billion on the TikTok deal

"In September, Donald Trump claimed that 'the United States is getting a tremendous fee' for brokering the TikTok deal. Now sources tell the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times that fee is expected to be in the range of $10 billion. The money is supposedly being paid by new investors, including Oracle and Silver Lake."

"This is the latest example of the Trump administration inserting itself into private business in unprecedented ways, including taking on a 10-percent stake in Intel last August, a 'golden share' in US Steel, and a 20-percent cut in chip sales from Nvidia to China."

"If the reporting is accurate, the fee would represent over 70 percent of the deal's value, which saw a group of investors take a majority stake in TikTok for $14 billion."

The Trump administration is receiving an estimated $10 billion fee for facilitating the TikTok deal, with $2.5 billion already paid to the Treasury upon closing on January 22nd and remaining payments scheduled in installments. New investors including Oracle and Silver Lake are funding this fee. This transaction exemplifies the administration's unprecedented intervention in private business, following similar actions including acquiring a 10-percent stake in Intel, a golden share in US Steel, and negotiating a 20-percent cut in Nvidia chip sales to China. The deal involves Larry Ellison, Oracle's co-founder and a major Trump supporter and fundraiser. The fee represents over 70 percent of the deal's total $14 billion value.

Read at The Verge