Trump Administration Allegedly Negotiating Deal To Change TikTok Ownership

The Trump administration is reportedly discussing a plan to save TikTok by giving software company Oracle and a group of outside investors effective control of the platform’s global operations.

The unconfirmed deal would retain ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based owner, as a minority stakeholder in the company.

Oracle already provides the foundation TikTok’s web infrastructure.

Report: The Trump administration is in talks with Oracle and a group of other US investors to effectively take control of TikTok pic.twitter.com/1t5YIXJF2k

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NPR reports:

That would effectively mean American investors would own a majority stake in TikTok, but the terms of the deal could change and are still being hammered out.

“The goal is for Oracle to effectively monitor and provide oversight with what is going on with TikTok,” said the person directly involved in the talks, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the deliberations. “ByteDance wouldn’t completely go away, but it would minimize Chinese ownership.”

NPR has agreed not to name the sources, who are not authorized to speak publicly about the confidential talks.

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Other potential investors who are engaged in the talks include Microsoft.

Back in 2020, Trump gave his blessing to a TikTok takeover attempt involving Oracle and Walmart that eventually fell apart. A source close to the discussions said the retailer is, at this point, sitting out after balking at the estimated price of the viral video app.

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, according to the source involved in the discussions, who said Oracle is interested in a TikTok stake “in the tens of billions,” but the rest of the deal is in flux.

White House in talks with Oracle, other US investors to buy TikTok.

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Oracle and Microsoft are reportedly in talks to take over TikTok https://t.co/taTnmXY1Z6

— The Verge (@verge) January 25, 2025

Per Reuters:

The short video app used by 170 million Americans was taken offline temporarily for users shortly before a law that said it must be sold by its Chinese owner 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.

The possible deal reported by NPR would mean that American investors would own a majority stake in TikTok. However, the report added that the terms of the deal could change and are still being hammered out.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up.

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