Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Thursday that he is putting together an investor group to acquire ByteDance's TikTok.
Mnuchin's comments come as a piece of legislation making its way through Congress threatens the social media platform's continued existence in the U.S.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan bill was passed by the House of Representatives, that, if signed into law would mean ByteDance has to either divest the social media app or face an effective ban on TikTok within the U.S.
Mnuchin said he thinks the legislation should pass and he thinks TikTok should be sold. "It's a great business and I'm going to put together a group to buy TikTok," he told CNBC's Squawk Box on Thursday.
Mnuchin did not tell CNBC who the other investors would be in any potential deal or the potential valuation for the social media site.
The bill will now move on to the Senate, where its future is uncertain. However, President Joe Biden said he would sign the legislation if it reached him.
Mnuchin added that TikTok should be owned by U.S. businesses, as "there's no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China."
There have been growing concerns about TikTok's reach and potential influence in the U.S.