Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is assembling a group of investors to make an offer to purchase TikTok from ByteDance.

Mnuchin, a banker and Hollywood film investor before he worked for Donald Trump, expressed his interest in the social-media company on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

After saying he believes the U.S. should back the bill calling for a sale of the app, which passed the House Wednesday, Mnuchin insisted, “This should be owned by U.S. businesses. There’s no way the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China.”

ByteDance has shown no interest in parting ways with the popular app, home to 170m users.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew posted a video on X in which he told users, “We will not stop fighting and advocating for you. We will continue to do all we can, including exercising our legal rights to protect this amazing platform that we have built with you.”

"It wouldn't be a great strategy if I said on TV what I thought the business was worth if I was trying to buy it," says @stevenmnuchin1 on TikTok. "The number one issue that needs to be solved is the technology transfer." pic.twitter.com/9xedjWTIPq
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) March 14, 2024