President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order approving a proposal that would keep TikTok alive in the U.S. in a transaction that Vice President JD Vance said values the business at $14 billion.
The deal satisfies the requirements of a national security law requiring China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations or face an effective ban in the country, according to the executive order. Under the terms, which China must still approve, a new joint-venture company will oversee TikTok’s U.S. business, with ByteDance retaining less than a 20% stake.
Enterprise tech giant Oracle, Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi-based MGX investment fund will be main investors in TikTok’s U.S. business, controlling a roughly 45% stake in the entity, while ByteDance investors and new holders will own 35%, CNBC’s David Faber reported earlier Thursday.
No representatives from ByteDance were present at the signing, and the company hasn’t acknowledged that a transaction is taking place. No purchase price was mentioned, and there’s no indication that the Chinese government has made changes to laws that would be necessary for a deal to take place.
President Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the deal the go-ahead. Vance said the Chinese government put up some resistance before the agreement.
Under the planned arrangement, Oracle will oversee the app’s security operations and continue providing cloud computing services for the new TikTok U.S. firm, Faber reported, citing sources familiar with the deal. Trump said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is involved in the ownership group and that his company is “playing a very big part.”
“It’s owned by Americans, and very sophisticated Americans,” Trump said at the signing. “This is going to be American-operated all the way.”
ByteDance investors like General Atlantic, Susquehanna and Sequoia, are expected to contribute equity in the new TikTok U.S. entity, sources told Faber. ByteDance was reportedly valued at $330 billion last month. Analysts have previously estimated TikTok’s U.S. operations could be worth between $30 billion to $35 billion.
The deal does not involve the federal government taking an equity stake or a so-called golden share in TikTok’s U.S. operations, CNBC reported Monday.
Trump said over the weekend that conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch could be involved in the TikTok deal as well as Ellison and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell.
The president last week signed an executive order that extended ByteDance’s deadline to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or be subject to a national security law originally signed by former President Joe Biden.
The order prevents the Department of Justice from enforcing the national security law until Dec. 16. That law would penalize app store operators like Apple and Google and internet service providers for providing services to TikTok’s U.S. operations.
By NCBC