President Donald Trump pushed back on a report that the tech company Oracle is considering buying TikTok, but said he is actively working to select a buyer after delaying a law that temporarily banned the app in one of his first major moves after taking office.
Key Facts
- Trump told reporters on Saturday he has “spoken to many people about TikTok” and his administration will “make a decision on it in the next 90 days or so.”
- He said he “never spoke” to billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison about the deal, rejecting an NPR report that the company is in talks to take control of the app.
- The outlet reported the White House is negotiating a deal with the company and a group of investors that would allow TikTok’s current owner, Chinese company ByteDance, to maintain a minority stake in the company, while Oracle controls its algorithm, data collection and software updates, according to two unnamed sources familiar with the deal cited by NPR.
- The reported plan would “minimize Chinese ownership” of TikTok, but allow Oracle to “effectively monitor and provide oversight with what is going on with TikTok,” one of the sources told NPR, which noted that Oracle and White House officials met Friday and another meeting is scheduled for next week.
- Microsoft is also a potential investor, according to NPR, which reported the deal is “in flux” and that Oracle is seeking a stake “in the tens of billions.”
Big Number
$200 billion. That’s how much ByteDance believes it could sell TikTok for, according to one of the sources cited by NPR.
Who Else Could Buy TikTok?
Trump signed an executive order that extended the deadline for completing a sale of TikTok by 75 days, delaying a ban that temporarily took effect ahead of the Jan. 19 deadline set by a law Congress passed last year mandating the app’s sale to a non-Chinese company. Multiple potential buyers have reportedly submitted offers, including Perplexity AI and the internet advocacy group, Project Liberty. Chinese government officials have also eyed Tesla CEO and Trump confidant Elon Musk as a potential buyer, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has also reportedly expressed interest and spoken to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, among others, to help finance the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, while former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in March last year he was working to pool investors to buy the app. Trump has repeatedly floated the idea that the U.S. could have 50% ownership over the app, though the terms of such an arrangement are unclear, including whether Trump means the U.S. government or U.S. investors, according to a source familiar with the talks and cited by NPR.
What We Don’t Know
Whether Congress will agree to the deal presented by the White House. The bipartisan law mandates a “qualified divestiture” from ByteDance—language the Trump administration could broadly interpret, but still requires congressional approval. It’s unclear how the new owner will fully eliminate ByteDance’s influence over the app, NPR reported, citing Brookings Institution fellow Sarah Kreps, who cast doubt on the possibility that “Chinese control of data and the algorithm” will be wholly absolved. Chinese regulators must also approve the deal and recently suggested they are open to doing so, after years of opposition.
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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