<2>US Set To Receive $10 Billion Fee For Brokering TikTok Deal
<3>The Unprecedented Deal
The deal to take control of TikTok’s U.S. business came with an unusual condition, according to people familiar with the matter. The investors, which include Oracle, Abu Dhabi investor MGX, and private-equity firm Silver Lake, “paid the Treasury Department about $2.5 billion when the deal closed in January,” reports the Wall Street Journal, “and are set to make several additional payments until hitting the $10 billion total.”
<3>Historical Context
The $10 billion payment would be nearly unprecedented for a government helping arrange a transaction, historians have said. Investment bankers advising on a typical deal receive fees of less than 1% of the transaction value, and the percentage generally gets smaller as the deal size increases. Bank of America is in line to make some $130 million for advising railroad operator Norfolk Southern on its $71.5 billion sale to Union Pacific, one of the largest fees on record for a single bank on a deal.
<3>Administration’s Justification
Administration officials have said the fee is justified given Trump’s role in saving TikTok in the U.S. and navigating negotiations with China to get