Finance News
Kevin O’Leary warns TikTok’s fate could be determined by ‘secret golden share’ granting Beijing ‘veto’ power
O’Leary Ventures Chairman Kevin O’Leary and Gristedes CEO John Catsimatidis join ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss the latest news involving the U.S. ban on TikTok and how Trump executive orders could impact the economy.
TikTok’s fate could be left up to Beijing thanks to a “secret” arrangement granting the Chinese government leverage over any potential deal involving the platform, “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary told FOX Business on Monday.
“There is something called a secret golden share that every Chinese company has to issue to the CCP leadership. That’s Xi [Jinping] himself, and it turns out that ByteDance can’t negotiate anything unless he’s made a decision,” the O’Leary Ventures Chairman told “Mornings with Maria” guest host Cheryl Casone.
“The secret share is a veto power over all other shareholders,” he explained. “They do not have any rights once the secret share has been issued, so now we’re dealing with what to do with the secret share, because until she decides what’s going to happen, it doesn’t matter what shareholders think or the CEO or any of the management, it’s irrelevant. It’s the secret golden share that determines the fate of TikTok now.”
O’Leary Ventures Chairman Kevin O’Leary discussed TikTok’s uncertain future while appearing on “Mornings with Maria” on Monday. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
As 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 its board and veto power over certain company decisions.”
Speaking on the subject later on “Varney & Co.,” O’Leary said the news may come as a surprise to other investors involved with Chinese companies.
“They’re all subject to the holder of the secret golden share, and I would think that contravenes some U.S. securities laws, if you’re listed on a New York exchange or NASDAQ or any other exchange,” he said.
“Rumor has it today, here in Washington, that Lindsey [Graham]… will be launching a bill on this very shortly because we’re learning so much through this TikTok situation. There’s no deal yet. This deal now is in Trump’s hands and it will be his deal. Unfortunately, the option to extend 90 days is not currently in the existing law. So that’s going to have to be modified by Congress. And the option to have any Chinese ownership is not permitted by the 9 to 0 Supreme Court order. So… our hands are tied as buyers, and we are going to have to abide by the law unless President Trump is able to change it.”
TikTok has contrarily said, however, that, “an entity affiliated with the Chinese government owns 1% of a ByteDance subsidiary, Douyin Information Service,” and says the holding “has no bearing on ByteDance’s global operations outside of China, including TikTok,” according to Reuters.
The popular short video platform went dark for millions of users across the U.S. late Saturday after the Supreme Court, citing national security concerns, upheld a bipartisan law signed by President Biden last spring that required the app’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform or face a U.S. ban.
While briefly going dark, the app featured a shout-out to Trump, who had previously said he will “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day extension from the Sunday deadline after assuming office.
TikTok informed users on Saturday that it is no longer available due to the ban enacted in the U.S., while stating President-elect Trump is working on a solution. (TikTok / Fox News)
The app returned hours later, but its future remains in limbo.
Just minutes after the Supreme Court’s ruling, O’Leary put a $20 billion cash offer for the app on the table, arguing that selling to an American syndicate is the “obvious solution.”
He told Casone he has not had any negotiations with ByteDance thanks to the “golden share.”
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‘Shark Tank’ investor Kevin O’Leary talks TikTok’s future, the Chinese government’s role with a ‘secret golden share’ and the role Trump could play in keeping the platform available in the U.S.
Reuters and FOX Business’ Alexandra Koch, Bradford Betz and Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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Brian Steorts, a combat veteran who founded Flags of Valor in 2015, said his flag-making business believes in the “American supply chain, the American worker and the American spirit.”
For Flags of Valor – a veteran-owned and operated business that has shipped more than 96,000 flags to doorsteps nationwide – the phrase “made in America” lies at the foundation of everything it stands for.
“For over 10 years, we’ve been saying the same thing – we build American products, on American wood, with American tools, made by American hands,” Flags of Valor founder and military veteran Brian Steorts told FOX Business. “And we do it while giving back to the causes that matter – supporting veterans, educating youth, and honoring service and sacrifice at every step.”
VETERANS SHARE PATRIOTISM, PRIDE AND PRODUCTIVITY WHILE ALSO PROMOTING ‘MILITARY WORK ETHIC’
Founded in Virginia in 2015, Flags of Valor is known for its handcrafted, wooden U.S. flags, as well as military and first responder flags. The business currently has 10 employees, the majority of whom are veterans and military spouses.
Flags of Valor currently has 10 employees, the majority of whom are veterans and military spouses. (Flags of Valor)
Each material used by the Flags of Valor team – from the woodworking tools to the tape for the shipping boxes – is sourced from American companies, according to Steorts.
FROM BOMB SQUAD TO BAKER AND COFFEE MAKER: FORMER DEPUTY CRUSHES A NEW BUSINESS
“We believe that’s the only way it should be done,” Steorts said.
Steorts, a combat veteran who was deployed nine times, served in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper and later as an Air Force special operations pilot.
In 2013, he got into woodworking after returning from one of his deployments injured and “mentally and physically” broken, he said. During that same time period, Steorts also lost four friends in combat and his sister to mental health struggles.
Founded in Winchester, Virginia, in 2015, Flags of Valor is known for its handcrafted, wooden U.S. flags, as well as military and first responder flags. (Flags of Valor)
“I wanted something patriotic on the wall of my house – something that meant something,” Steorts said. “I found therapy in [woodworking], and I found philanthropy in it by donating my first couple of flags to the widows of my buddies that passed, and I just knew I wanted to do more.”
While Flags of Valor’s best-selling products today are its wooden U.S. flags, the business also sells patriotic home and office decor, awards, memorial displays, corporate gifts, employee recognition pieces, Christmas ornaments, clothing and accessories, and more, Steorts said.
“One of the most important things we’re doing right now is building memorial flag cases – because our heroes deserve a final resting place for their flag that’s made by a veteran-owned American company, not mass-produced overseas,” he said.
Flags of Valor Founder Brian Steorts is pictured with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in 2017. (Flags of Valor)
In addition to employing veterans, Flags of Valor has also given back by donating $1.7 million to veteran-operated nonprofits.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company also launched a Kids Flag Building Kit, a hands-on activity to help educate children about the history and values the American flag represents. Each year, during the weeks of Veterans Day and Memorial Day, thousands of students across the nation use the kits to create their own American flags.
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“We believe in educating our youth and passing freedom on to the next generation,” Steorts said. “It’s more than a project – it’s about patriotism, education and preserving what matters most.”
FOX Business correspondent Jeff Flock discusses the record ground beef prices due to supply issues on ‘Varney & Co.’
High beef prices have been weighing on U.S. businesses and consumers.
They have forced some businesses to make tough decisions about how to handle the increased costs, and some are passing the costs on to customers.
Rob Passio, the owner of Lombardi’s Prime Meats in Philadelphia, told FOX Business correspondent Jeff Flock on “Varney & Co” that “there’s only so much you can absorb as far as the hit to your bottom line before you say to yourself you have to raise these prices.”
The butcher shop, Passio said, hasn’t seen its customers balk at higher prices “because they see it.”
EGGS ARE NOT THE ONLY EXPENSIVE FOOD: BEEF PRICES ARE ALSO ON THE RISE
Organic ground beef Oct. 30, 2020, in Bavaria, Nuremberg (Daniel Karmann/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“They see the inflation. They see the pricing. You know, everything is up,” he told Flock.
Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation data measured by the consumer price index (CPI) showed prices for beef and veal were up 2.4% month-over-month and 7.6% year-over-year in February.
The overall CPI posted a 0.2% increase month-over-month and a 2.8% jump year-over-year.
Courtney Schmidt, sector manager at Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, told FOX Business last month that high beef prices were driven by tighter U.S. beef production with consistent consumer demand.
The U.S. cattle herd is experiencing a down cycle, with cattle inventories at historically low levels in 2025, according to Schmidt.
Demand for beef has remained strong since the pandemic, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. (Kennedy Hayes/Fox News / Fox News)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported in late January that U.S. farms had 86.7 million head of cattle and calves. The count for beef cows specifically was 27.9 million, a decline of 1% compared to the same time last year, according to the USDA.
“I know they’re killing smaller cattle, so they’re trying, I guess, to kill them faster to create the supply that demand is needing,” Passio said.
Some big companies source beef from Canada and Mexico, Flock reported on “Varney & Co.”
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President Donald Trump imposed 25% import tariffs on goods entering the U.S. from those two countries March 4 and, more recently, introduced exemptions for Mexico and Canada on goods under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement until early April.
Such a levy on imported beef would “increase the price,” according to Passio, adding that consumers “are going to pay for it.”
“My philosophy is to sell it as low as you can to show a savings, a value to the customer. And hopefully you have more customers to generate your revenue,” the Lombardi Prime Meats owner told Flock.
Packages of beef are displayed for sale at a supermarket Jan. 12, 2023, in Foster City, Calif. (Liu Guanguan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images / Getty Images)
In the U.S., ground beef averaged $5.63 per pound in February, while the per-pound price of boneless sirloin steak came in at $11.90, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Those average prices were 9.6% and 1.6% higher, respectively, than the same month in 2024.
EGG PRICE SPIKE: WE ARE ‘PAST THE TOUGH PART,’ AGRICULTURE SECRETARY ROLLINS SAYS
The USDA projected in a report released this month that U.S. beef production is poised to amount to 26.685 billion pounds this year.
Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.
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