US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order approving a deal to create a new company to manage TikTok's US business, CNBC reports. Vice President J.D. Vance said the deal is valued at $14 billion, but the specific purchase price was not disclosed.
Under terms that China still needs to approve, control of TikTok in the U.S. will pass to a joint venture in which ByteDance will retain less than a 20% stake. The main investors will be Oracle, investment firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, which will together take about 45% of the new structure. The remaining 35% will be held by existing and new ByteDance investors.
ByteDance was not present at the signing ceremony, and the company did not officially confirm the deal. Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had approved the deal, although Vance said the Chinese side had initially objected.
As part of the deal, Oracle will be responsible for TikTok's data security in the US and will continue to provide cloud services. Trump specifically noted that Oracle founder Larry Ellison is part of the ownership group and that the company "plays a very important role."
CNBC notes that the US federal government will not receive a stake in the company and will not have a so-called "golden share" in TikTok's American operations.
Last week, Donald Trump signed a separate executive order extending the deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok's US assets until December 16 to avoid blocking the app in the US.
It later emerged that President Trump was going to transfer TikTok's American business to US investors. It was reported at the time that the American share of the company would be controlled by a group of US investors, who would receive about 80% in the new structure.