Trump administration reportedly set to be paid $10bn for brokering TikTok deal
Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly poised to be paid $10bn by investors as part of a deal to create a US-controlled version of TikTok,The $10bn, considered by the US government as a sort of transaction fee, will be paid by the administration-friendly investors who took control of TikTok’s US operations from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, according to reporting that first appeared in the Wall Street Journal,The investors in the popular social media app include software company Oracle; MGX, an investment firm based in the United Arab Emirates; and private equity business Silver Lake,These entities, along with other backers, paid $2,5bn to the US treasury when the deal closed in January and are set to make further payments in the unusual arrangement until the total hits $10bn.
Trump has previously said that the US will get a “tremendous fee-plus – I call it a fee-plus – just for making the deal and I don’t want to throw that out the window”,The president signed an executive order in September approving the deal, amid bipartisan concerns that TikTok’s Chinese ownership posed a national security threat given the platform’s popularity among Americans,“It’s owned by Americans, and very sophisticated Americans,” Trump said at the signing of the order,“This is going to be American operated all the way,”A government taking a transactional fee for a deal between private businesses is exceptionally rare and the $10bn amount appears much larger than the roughly 1% slice that investment bankers take in such circumstances.
JD Vance has said the US version of TikTok is valued at about $14bn, meaning the fee taken by the government is closer to 70% of the deal.Under the agreement, TikTok will be able to fully operate in the US although investors will have to share profits with ByteDance.The transaction fee is the latest unusual involvement the Trump administration has taken in the private sector, including taking stakes in companies such as Intel and USA Rare Earth, a company that mines for critical minerals.Trump himself launched his own cryptocurrency coin while in the Oval Office, with investors in the venture recently offered “guaranteed direct access” to the president in return for $5m.Furthermore, on Saturday, the Atlantic reported that Trump’s private telephone number is being sold to chief executive officers beside crypto investors – and journalists are trading the number for that of other world leaders.
Still crazy: chaotic Six Nations showed the timeless appeal of great sporting drama | Robert Kitson
L’Équipe’s front page headline summed it up perfectly. “So Crazy” did not just reflect Saturday night’s dizzying blur of a game in the Stade de France but pretty much the entire 2026 men’s Six Nations championship. Wales beat Italy who defeated Scotland who beat France who beat Ireland who beat England who, you’ve guessed it, beat Wales. Rugby, eh?And maybe that is the single biggest takeaway from the most extraordinary Six Nations of them all. Never mind the players and the coaches, spare a thought for all those distractedly pouring orange juice on their cereal as they vainly try to rationalise six weeks of madness
USA 2-1 Dominican Republic: World Baseball Classic semi-final – as it happened
You can read the full report from tonight’s game here:Post-gameWell that call was ridiculous. It should be runners at the corners with Tatis coming up, but instead it’s all over and I can’t wait to never see that happen again in a big game with the coming of ABS. Man, that is just one of the worst calls in a big spot I have ever seen. We’re talking Don Dekinger bad.But overall, it was a very well played, tight, exciting ballgame
Father and son amateur cricketers combine for mammoth partnership of 590
Darren Cheek will never forget the time he hit 184 against Morphettville Park in 1996 – not for the century, but for the joy of hearing his nine-year-old son Sam cheering excitedly for him from the sidelines.On Saturday in Adelaide, however, the father and son made a new memory as they combined for an opening partnership of 590, against the very same club.Darren, 63, and Sam, 38, were at the crease for the full 40 overs for the Coromandel Cricket Club in their Section 8 match at the Ascot Park primary school oval.Sam hit an unbeaten 402 off 137 balls including 42 sixes and 30 fours, while Darren scored 175 not out off 108 to make a rather impressive-looking scorecard.“We knew that we had to have a big win and we had to get a big percentage quotient on our ladder to get up into the final,” Darren said
Alex Johnston bedlam delivers one of rugby league’s most unforgettable nights | Jack Snape
Alex Johnston is adored by all in rugby league, but even so, this was extreme. On Friday night, as he and his Souths teammates celebrated the second-half try that made him the NRL’s greatest try-scorer, one of the first into the melee was a fan wearing not the cardinal red and myrtle green, but the Roosters’ tricolours.This Craig Salvatori flashback donned a 1990s cotton jersey pulled tight by desperate security, with No 8 on the back, and adorned with a faded Samsung along the belly. As more fans launched themselves over the fence, the guard in yellow flicked his hand dismissively at him, gesturing that he was not worth it and letting him go. The crack in the dam wall quickly became a flood
Cameron Young holds off Matt Fitzpatrick on final hole to win Players Championship
The PGA Tour might have lost out in the court of public opinion over whether the Players Championship could be a major. However, the level of drama as shadows lengthened on this Sawgrass Sunday set the tournament aside from most others.It came down to Cameron Young versus Matt Fitzpatrick. As Fitzpatrick agonisingly missed for par on the 72nd hole, Young had secured the biggest win of his career. He had emerged triumphant from a sporting thriller
More countries, bigger audience but controversy lingered in Milano Cortina
The theme of the closing ceremony of the Winter Paralympics, held at the Olympic curling arena in Cortina D’Ampezzo, was “Italian Souvenir”. It followed, through dance and music, the ambitions of a young girl, played by Sofia Tansella who has spinal muscular atrophy, to see her dreams represented in the world. It was of course a metaphor for the Paralympic movement more broadly, a movement that has been boosted by a successful two weeks in Milano Cortina.The International Paralympic Committee has been able to boast a number of striking milestones at these Games, on the 50th anniversary of the first. Milano Cortina has had the most countries in competition, 55, and the most to win medals, 27
Sydney Biennale 2026: politics is everywhere – but with nuance, beauty and heart
Naples museum to allow visually impaired visitors to experience art through touch
Jimmy Kimmel on Pentagon splurging on doughnuts: ‘Is this My 600lb Defense Department?’
Rapper Lil’ Kim to headline both Vivid Sydney and Melbourne’s 2026 Rising festival
Stephen Colbert on US war in Iran: ‘We’re still no closer to learning what the goal is’
Leap Year is patently ridiculous and widely panned. It’s also the perfect romcom