❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump is expected to finalize a deal this week that will give American investors majority control of TikTok and safeguard U.S. user data.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Trump, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, ByteDance, Silver Lake, Michael Dell, Lachlan Murdoch, and Rupert Murdoch.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Details of the deal emerged following meetings in Madrid, Spain, last week, and a phone call between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
💬KEY QUOTE: “We look forward to getting that deal closed.” – President Trump
🎯IMPACT: Thousands of American jobs and small businesses are expected to be protected, with the government receiving a multibillion-dollar fee for orchestrating the deal.
President Donald J. Trump plans to sign an agreement this week that hands majority ownership of TikTok to U.S. investors, shifting its operations to a new joint venture based in America. Oracle, started by Trump’s supporter Larry Ellison, will handle the app’s security. In the restructured company, China-based ByteDance’s ownership will drop below 20 percent, while American backers such as Oracle and Silver Lake take hold of roughly 80 percent.
The setup includes a seven-person board, with ByteDance getting just one seat. Oracle will manage the ongoing oversight of data for more than 170 million American users, with China barred from accessing it.
Talks with China zeroed in on the app’s content-recommendation algorithm. ByteDance appears set to duplicate and license it to the U.S.-led entity. White House officials highlighted how the pact preserves thousands of jobs and supports small businesses, with one estimating it could safeguard “hundreds of billions of dollars over the next five years.”
Trump mentioned that U.S. investors like Michael Dell, along with Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch, are part of the arrangement. His team is recruiting “patriots that love America”, skilled in national and cyber security, to bolster the operation. The U.S. government also stands to collect a multibillion-dollar payment for brokering the deal.
Earlier, the President pushed back TikTok’s ban deadline three times, praising the app’s “tremendous value.” The terms came together after a sit-down between American and Chinese representatives in Madrid, Spain, plus a call between Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping. Trump said Xi had “approved” the agreement and voiced confidence in wrapping it up soon.
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