Who is Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s former Treasury Secretary who wants to buy TikTok?

On Thursday, former Treasury Secretary U.SSteven Mnuchin surprises by revealing that he wants to bring together investors to buy TikTokthe Chinese social network that is in the crosshairs of the Government of Joe Biden and the United States Congress, where a bill is being advanced for the application to be sold or ultimately banned in that country.

A day before this news became known, the House of Representatives approved by a large majority a bill that would force TikTok separate from its parent company in China, the Chinese technology giant ByteDançaor run the risk of having the application banned in U.S. Now the rule will be debated and voted on in the Senatewhere you don’t know what could happen.

LOOK: TikTok debate erupts with force in US presidential race.

The president Biden advanced that if Congress finally approves the so-called Act to Protect Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries, he will sign.

File photo dated September 21, 2020 shows a generic illustration of a cell phone with the Chinese internet media app TikTok and an American flag. (EFE/ ARCHIVE Roman Pilipey).

In this context, Steven Mnuchinwho was Secretary of the Treasury during the Republican government donald trumpannounced that it is preparing a purchasing plan for TikTok, the popular short video app.

“I think the legislation should be passed and sold,” he said. Mnuchin for the CNBC network. He assured that Tiktok is “a big business and (…) should be owned by American companies”.

Mnuchin He did not give details about who else would be part of the group of investors he intends to form, nor about the possible monetary appreciation of the TikTok.

The AP agency recalled that in 2020 Mnuchin brokered a deal that would have made U.S. corporations Oracle and Walmart received wide participation TikTok for reasons of national security.

The 2020 agreement was made in response to then-president’s series of executive actions donald trump that were destined ban TikTok in the United States.

But the sale never prospered for several reasons. Although executive orders from trump They ended up in court as the 2020 presidential election approached.

Then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks during a press conference about the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak as President Donald Trump looks on. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP). (MANDEL NGAN/)

At this point it is necessary to know Who is Steven Terner Mnuchin?.

Born December 21, 1962, he is an American banker, film producer and former hedge fund manager who became the 77th United States Secretary of the Treasury.

After graduating from Yale University in 1985, Mnuchin worked for investment bank Goldman Sachs for 17 yearsuntil he became its chief information officer.

After leaving the Goldman Sachs In 2002, he worked at several hedge funds and founded others.

During the 2007-2008 financial crisis, Mnuchin bought residential lender IndyMacwhich was renamed OneWest Bank, and rebuild it. He then sold it to CIT Group in 2015.

Mnuchin He joined Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 and was named the campaign’s national finance chairman.

Before joining the Trump campaign, Mnuchin he was involved in politics only as a donor. Between 1995 and 2014, he donated more than $120,000 to political organizations, PACs, politicians and political parties, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

His contributions to candidates included 11 donations going to Republicans and 36 donations going to Democrats. The campaigns of Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were among those he donated money to. Mnuchin He said most of those donations were favors for friends.

Between June and September 2016, Mnuchin donated more than US$400,000 to Republican partyincluding donations to Paul Ryan and Donald Trump.

After Trump won the election, on February 13, 2017, the Senate confirmed Mnuchin as United States Secretary of the Treasury by 53 votes to 47.

The TikTok logo is displayed outside the app company’s offices in Culver City, California, on March 16, 2023. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP). (PATRICK T. FALLON/)

If the US Senate approves the bill, ByteDança I would have to sell the app to a US company within six months. On the contrary, TikTok could be banned in U.S.

Yes well Mnuchin You didn’t mention a value for TikTokThere are some clues that give you an idea of ​​how much the social network you have may cost 1.562 million monthly active users worldwide. In the United States, 148 million people use the app.

TikTok users in the world. (AFP).

In 2000, the Bloomberg agency reported that ByteDança had set the price TikTok. Those were the times when the government of donald trump Pressured the Chinese state-owned company to get rid of the app.

According to the blog of the specialized website Hootsuite, TikTok It would be worth 50 billion dollars in 2024. But the Wall Street Journal estimates it to be more and speaks of hundreds of billions of dollars.

In this photo illustration, the logo for the social media app TikTok is displayed on an iPhone screen in front of an American flag and a Chinese flag. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP). (OLIVIER DOULIERY/)

TikTok belongs to the Chinese technology giant ByteDançasupposedly subordinate to Chinese Communist Party.

The New York Times explained that lawmakers and regulators of U.S and other countries West have increasingly expressed concern that TikTok and ByteDance will be able to place users’ personal data in the hands of the Chinese government, such as location information.

The concerns are based on laws that allow the Chinese government secretly request data from Chinese companies and citizens for intelligence operations.

They are also concerned that China can use content recommendations from TikTok misinformation, a concern that increased in the United States during the war between Israel and Hamas, indicates the NYT.

TikTok always denied these accusations and tried to distance himself ByteDança.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew listens to a question while testifying during the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. (Photo by Jim WATSON/AFP). (JIM WATSON/)

Which countries have banned TikTok? In mid-2020 India banned the platform, which cost ByteDança one of its biggest markets. According to the New York Times, the Indian government claimed that this and 58 other Chinese apps They secretly transmitted user data to servers outside India.

Other countries and government bodies such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France and New Zealand have banned the application on official devices.

In U.Smore than two dozen states TikTok has been banned from government devices. Many universities have blocked it from campus wireless networks, but students often simply use their cell phone data to use the app.

Source: Elcomercio