Trump Reportedly Considering TikTok Billionaire Jeff Yass For Treasury Secretary

Billionaire TikTok investor Jeff Yass is among the names on a shortlist for former President Donald Trump's treasury secretary, should he win a second term.

Insiders told Bloomberg that the 68-year-old was a strong contender, along with former US trade representative Robert Lighthizer, Key Square Group LP founder Scott Bessent and hedge fund titan John Paulson.

Yass is the co-founder of Susquehanna International Group LLP, a technology and trading firm based in Philadelphia.

The largest single asset in his $40.8 billion portfolio is a stake in TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, worth a whopping $15 billion. 

The GOP mega-donor's name has cropped up in the news recently amid speculation that TikTok may be banned from app stores and web servers in the United States.

Former President Donald Trump is reportedly considering GOP mega-donor Jeff Yass for treasury secretary, should he win a second term

Yass is the co-founder of Susquehanna International Group LLP, a technology and trading firm

He owns a $15 billion stake in TikTok's parent company, ByteDance

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to pass legislature that could ban the platform in the United States.

Trump led the charge to ban the app in 2020, but recently reversed his stance, voicing his opposition to the bipartisan bill.

'If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,' the former president wrote on social media, making a snarky reference to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

'I don't want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!'

The declaration came after Trump met with Yass during a donor event organized by Club for Growth, a conservative nonprofit that counts the billionaire as one of its biggest backers.

Trump has since denied that they ever discussed the video-sharing platform. 'No, I didn't,' the 77-year-old told CNBC on Monday morning. 'He never mentioned TikTok.' 

However, former campaign manager and White House adviser Steve Bannon has implied that Yass was behind Trump's change of heart.

'Simple: Yass Coin,' Bannon wrote on social media, sharing an Axios article titled 'Inside Trump’s TikTok flip-flop.'

Yass and Trump met at a donor event for conservative nonprofit Club for Growth last week. Shortly after, Trump changed his tune on TikTok, which he previously sought to ban in the U.S.

So far, Yass has given $46.4 million to Republican candidates and committees in the 2024 election cycle

Trump has since denied that Yass 'mentioned TikTok' during their meeting at the donor event in Palm Beach, Florida

Yass and his wife, Janine, contribute millions to education providers each year through the Yass Prize

The billionaire contributed $47 million to Republican candidates and committees during the 2022 midterms, making him the nation's third-largest conservative political donor at the time.

He eclipsed that record this year, shelling out $46.4 million so far and claiming the top spot as the biggest donor in the 2024 election cycle.

Yass and his wife, Janine, are also co-founders of the Yass Prize, a nonprofit that contributes millions to education providers each year. 

Campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung maintains that there have been 'no discussions of who will serve in a second Trump administration.'

In August 2020, Trump issued an executive order demanding ByteDance sell its U.S. assets and destroy all data within 90 days.

This followed an earlier set of orders banning the tech giant from conducting any transactions in the United States by September of that year. 

'There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that ByteDance Ltd. ... might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States,' Trump wrote in the order.