Billionaire Jeffrey Yass retains ownership stake in TikTok after cozying up to Trump

Jeffrey Yass made a series of donations to President Donald Trump over the past year and will now retain ownership following the new TikTok deal. 

It appears that months of cozying up to President Donald Trump is about to pay serious dividends for Pennsylvania’s richest billionaire.

Jeffrey Yass, who has a net worth of over $65 billion thanks to his investments in ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, will continue to hold onto his share of the company once it is transferred to American ownership. 

“Jeff Yass, Pennsylvania’s richest man, went from stating that he would never contribute to President Trump to donating $16 million to Trump’s MAGA Inc PAC and $2.5 million to Trump’s East Wing ballroom renovation,” Aly Shaw, research analyst at Little Sis, said in a statement. 

“Now it seems that Yass’s investment has paid off; he is getting a piece of Trump’s sweetheart US TikTok deal.”

BBC reported that TikTok’s new board will consist of seven members with an American majority. Those members will include representatives from Oracle, which is owned by Trump supporter Larry Ellison, Silver Lake, a US tech investment firm, and MGX Fund, an Emirati state-owned investment firm. 

Those three companies will each own 15% of TikTok, while ByteDance, in which Yass owns a 7% personal stake, will own 19.9% of the social media company. ByteDance’s managing director, Mark Dooley, will also have a seat on the board. 

Yass went from not supporting Trump’s first term in office to donating millions to his superPAC and the fund to tear down the East Wing of the White House and replace it with a ballroom. 

Since then, Yass’ net worth ballooned from $2 billion in 2018 to over $65 billion in 2025 thanks to his investments in ByteDance. 

“This is yet another example of billionaires using their wealth and power to influence politicians and enrich themselves,” Shaw added.

“Yass will not only likely massively profit from this TikTok deal, but it also gives rightwing billionaires like him even greater control over the content and information that tens of millions of American TikTok users see every day.”