Trump reveals Murdoch family is interested in investing in TikTok

(AFP) President Donald Trump hinted Sunday that media mogul Rupert Murdoch, along with his eldest son Lachlan, could be among the investors to take control of popular video app TikTok.

The country has forcefully sought to take TikTok's operations out of the hands of Chinese parent company ByteDance for national security reasons, they claim. Since returning to power in January, Trump has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the social network ban while a deal was sought.

The Republican has negotiated with Beijing to sell the platform's U.S. operations to a consortium of investors he describes as "patriots," including his ally and head of tech giant Oracle, Larry Ellison, and businessman Michael Dell.

On Sunday he added more names to that list.

"I hate to tell you this..."

"I hate to tell you this, but a man named Lachlan is involved. Do you know who Lachlan is? That’s a very unusual name, Lachlan Murdoch," Trump said in an interview with Fox News. "Rupert is, is probably going to be in the group. I think they’re going to be in the group," he added.

Earlier this month, the sons of media mogul Rupert Murdoch reached a settlement in their long-running legal dispute over control of the media empire, cementing the leadership of his eldest son Lachlan.

Lachlan Murdoch officially assumed control of Fox News and News Corp as part of the agreement.

Rupert Murdoch built a right-wing conservative media empire that spans the U.S., U.K. and Australia.