President Trump is anticipated to endorse a deal regarding TikTok this week, which would grant American investors the majority stake and enable a US-based entity to protect users’ data, according to a senior official from the White House on Monday.
The agreement entails relocating TikTok’s operations into a US-based joint venture, with Oracle – a company co-founded by billionaire Larry Ellison, a known Trump ally – taking on the role of the app’s security provider.
The combined ownership of current investors along with new American investors, including Oracle and private-equity firm Silver Lake, will amount to approximately 80% of the company, thus reducing the Chinese parent company ByteDance’s stake to below 20%.
The newly formed company will have a board comprising seven members, with ByteDance restricted to nominating only one representative.
Oracle will “retrain” and “continuously monitor” the data of approximately 170 million Americans, according to the White House official. The new agreement will also ensure that China cannot access US user data.
A significant point of contention in the discussions with China was determining control over the algorithm that manages users’ data, revealed the White House official.
As reported by the Journal, ByteDance is anticipated to replicate the algorithm used for suggesting content and lease it to the new controlling entity.
Trump mentioned that numerous US investors are showing interest as well. The administration is in search of “patriots who love America” and possess insights into national and cyber security, a White House official added.
Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Technologies, was noted to be “involved” in the negotiations, and Lachlan Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch are likely to be part of the group, Trump shared during an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
Lachlan Murdoch holds the position of chairman at News Corp, the parent company of The Post, in addition to being CEO of its sibling company, Fox Corp.
The White House emphasized that by “saving” TikTok, the administration aims to protect “thousands of jobs” and support small businesses, with predictions suggesting it will generate “hundreds of billions of dollars over the next five years.”
The US government is also poised to collect a multibillion-dollar fee for facilitating the deal, according to the Journal.
Previously, Trump had overlooked stipulations in a law enacted by Congress last year and upheld by the Supreme Court, which mandated TikTok to separate from its parent organization, the Beijing-based ByteDance.
Under this law, ByteDance must own less than 20% of the equity in the US operations.
Members of Congress concerned about China expressed alarm regarding the potential harvesting of American data by foreign adversaries and the risk of the algorithm being governed by China. Many young Americans have also been greatly influenced by the app’s content.
Trump extended the deadline for the ban three times while finalizing the agreement, arguing that the app carries “tremendous value” and that his executive order allowed him to bypass the congressional prohibition.
He asserted that his presence on TikTok was a contributing factor to his victory in the 2024 elections.
The president initially granted a 75-day extension on the impending ban upon entering office, then announced another 75-day delay in April, followed by an additional 90-day extension in June.
The final details of the arrangement came together during a meeting of US and Chinese officials in Madrid, Spain, last week, coinciding with a phone conversation between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday.
Trump stated that Xi had “approved” the TikTok agreement on Friday, but later clarified that “we look forward to finalizing that deal.”
