Kevin O’Leary warns TikTok’s fate could be decided by ‘secret golden ratio’, giving Beijing ‘veto’ power

TikTok’s fate is up to the Chinese government thanks to a “secretive” arrangement that it plans to use in any case related to the platform, “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary told Fox Business.

“There is something called a secret golden share that every Chinese company must give to the leadership of the CCP. That is Xi[Jinping]himself, and it turns out that nothing can be negotiated until Bytedance makes a decision.” Host Cheryl Cason said.

“The secret part is the veto power over all shareholders,” he explained. Once the secret shares are out, they have no rights, so we’re talking about what to do with the secret shares because until she decides what happens, it doesn’t matter what the shareholders or the CEO think. Or any governing body, it is now the secret golden stake that decides the fate of TikTok.

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as a The New York Times explained.In this arrangement, “the Chinese government buys a small portion of a company’s equity in exchange for a seat on the board and veto power over certain company decisions.”

Speaking later on “Varney & Company” about the subject, O’Leary said this news may surprise other investors involved with Chinese companies.

“They all own a secret golden share, and I think if you’re listed on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ or any other exchange, that’s against some U.S. securities laws,” he said.

Lindsey (Graham) in Washington today… We’re learning a lot about this Tik Tok situation, so there’s a rumor that he’s going to start a bill on this very soon. No deal yet. This deal is now in Trump’s hands and unfortunately the option to extend the 90 days is not in the current law so it has to be fixed by Congress, a 9 to 0 Supreme Court order… Our hands are tied as governors, and if President Trump can’t change it, we have to abide by the law.

TikTok, on the other hand, said that “an entity affiliated with the Chinese government owns 1% of ByteDance’s subsidiary Doyin Information Services” and “has no involvement in ByteDance’s international operations outside of China, including Tik Tok.” According to Reuters.

The popular short-form video platform was blacked out for millions of users in the United States late Saturday, citing national security concerns, and the Supreme Court upheld bipartisan legislation signed by President Biden last spring that forced the sale of the app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a U.S. ban.

While it went dark for a short time, the app has already given Trump a shout-out to give TikTok a 90-day extension from Sunday’s deadline after he takes office.

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The app was restored hours later, but its future remains in limbo.

Minutes after the Supreme Court’s ruling, O’Leary put a $20 billion financing offer for the app on the table, saying selling it to the American syndicate was the “obvious solution.”

He told Casson that he had no dealings with ByteDance thanks to his “golden share”.

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Reuters and Fox Business’s Alexandra Koch, Bradford Beth and Landon Mion contributed to this report.