HOUSTON – Fort Bend County Judge K.P. George invited video-sharing social networking service, TikTok Global, to open its headquarters in the county.
The expansion is expected to bring 25,000 new jobs and George hopes to bring them to the Houston area.
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“Fort Bend County is a unique place,” George wrote in a letter. “From the home of the original 300 families led by Stephen F. Austin to establish the State of Texas, we have now become the most diverse and fastest-growing communities in the United States. Since then we catalyzed our business climate to now become a magnet for many technology companies – most recently welcoming Amazon.com Inc. with many of the other tech companies that call Fort Bend County home.”
George touted the county’s educated workforce, affordable, wide-open spaces and strategic location for distribution of goods domestically and internationally as primary reasons for TikTok to consider the county as a viable option.
He also noted the success of the Fort Bend County schools and master-planned communities, which allows the county to serve as a great place to live and work.
“We stand ready to work with you and your team to explore the many options that exist in our community," George said.
On Saturday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that he spoke with President Donald Trump regarding the TikTok deal.
“I let him know that if he approves the deal, Texas would be the perfect place for the HQ,” Abbott wrote on Twitter. “We’ll see.”
Today I talked to @realDonaldTrump about the @tiktok_us deal.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 19, 2020
I let him know that if he approves the deal Texas would be the perfect place for the HQ.
We’ll see. 👀#TikTok
On Sept. 13, technology company Oracle and ByteDance, a Chinese-based Internet technology company, reached a deal for TikTok’s U.S. operations on Sept. 13.
However, Sen. Ted Cruz warned against the deal. Earlier this month, he argued “the deal could leave the American people exposed to undue influence by the Chinese Communist Party and undermine U.S. national security interests,” according to a press release.
Cruz said in part: “This planned partnership raises serious national security concerns. Indeed, reports indicate that other companies interested in purchasing ByteDance felt they were unable to address national security concerns under the conditions imposed by the Chinese government. It is hard to see how such a proposal can satisfy the spirit of the executive orders, and harder still to see how such an arrangement serves American interests.”