US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that brings to an end the controversy around TikTok’s business operations in the US.
According to US media, the executive order sets out the terms of a deal to transfer majority ownership of TikTok in the US from Chinese media company ByteDance to a consortium of American businesses led by Oracle. The deal has reportedly been agreed by Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and will see Chinese investors retain around 20% of the business. The carved-out US business will be valued at around $14bn – and the US government is in line to secure a sizeable transaction fee.
The deal completes a long-running saga which almost saw TikTok shut down in the US because of concerns that Chinese ownership was a threat to national security. Trump repeatedly delayed the platform’s closure while he sought to broker an agreement – and it looks like he has finally come up with a solution.
The Guardian’s summary of the story said the new iteration of TikTok will be controlled by a seven-member board “made up of cybersecurity and national security experts”. Investors participating in the new consortium include Oracle, which will control the platform’s algorithm, Michael Dell, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, and Silver Lake.
Speaking on Truth Social, President Trump said: “I just completed a very productive call with President Xi of China. We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal. The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC (the South Korean Summit).”
TikTok is currently used by between 135 million and 170 million people in the US.
