The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is working on a plan to save TikTok that involves tapping software company Oracle, opens new tab and a group of outside investors to effectively take control of the app’s operations, two people with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.
Under the deal being negotiated by the White House, TikTok’s China-based owner, ByteDance, would retain a stake in the company, but data collection and software updates would be overseen by Oracle, which already provides the foundation of TikTok’s Web infrastructure, one of the sources told Reuters.
The terms of the deal are fluid, the sources said, and are likely to change. One source said the full scope of the discussions was not yet set and could include the U.S. operations as well as other regions.
National Public Radio on Saturday reported deal talks for TikTok’s global operations, citing two people with knowledge of the negotiations. The White House and Oracle had no immediate comment.
The deal being negotiated anticipates participation from ByteDance’s current U.S. investors, according to the sources. Jeff Yass’s Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Sequoia Capital are among ByteDance’s U.S. backers.
Representatives for TikTok, ByteDance investors General Atlantic, KKR, Sequoia and Susquehanna could not immediately be reached for comment.
Others vying to acquire TikTok, including the investor group led by billionaire Frank McCourt and another involving Jimmy Donaldson, better known as the YouTube star Mr. Beast, are not part of the Oracle negotiation, one of the sources said.
Under the terms of the deal, Oracle would be responsible for addressing national security issues. TikTok initially struck a deal with Oracle in 2022 to store U.S. users’ information, to alleviate Washington’s worries about Chinese government interference.
TikTok’s management would remain in place, to operate the short video app, according to one of the sources.
The app, which is used by 170 million Americans, was taken offline temporarily for users shortly before a law that said it must be sold by ByteDance on national security grounds, or be banned, took effect on Jan. 19.
Trump, after taking office a day later, signed an executive order seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of the law that was put in place after U.S. officials warned that under ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans’ data being misused.
Officials from Oracle and the White House held a meeting on Friday about a potential deal, and another meeting has been scheduled for next week, NPR reported.
Oracle was interested in a TikTok stake “in the tens of billions,” but the rest of the deal is in flux, the NPR report cited the source as saying.
Trump has said he “would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture” in TikTok.
NPR cited another source as saying that appeasing Congress is seen as a key hurdle by the White House.
Free speech advocates have opposed TikTok’s ban under a law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by former President Joe Biden.
The company has said U.S. officials misstated its ties to China, arguing its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle while content moderation decisions that affect American users are also made in the U.S.
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