The administration of US President Donald Trump is working on a plan that will transfer control of the social network TikTok to the US company Oracle, NPR reported.
According to sources at the national radio station, the administration “is working on a rescue plan for TikTok, according to which Oracle and a group of outside investors would effectively take control of the application's operations worldwide“.
“Under the terms of the deal, which is currently being negotiated by the White House, China-based ByteDance will retain a minority stake in the company, while the application's algorithms, data collection and software updates will be controlled by Oracle, which already provides the backbone of TikTok's online infrastructure“, the publication notes.
“This would essentially mean that American investors would own a majority stake in TikTok, but the terms of the deal could change as they are still being negotiated,“ the article said.“The goal is for Oracle to be able to actually monitor and provide oversight of what happens with TikTok,“ one of the sources said. “ByteDance won’t disappear completely, but the Chinese stake will be reduced to a minimum,“ he added. The article said Microsoft was among the potential investors. The deal could be worth as much as $200 billion.“ Former US President Joe Biden signed a law in 2024 that required ByteDance to sell the social network or cease operations in the US by Jan. 19, 2025. The app stopped working in the United States on that day, but later became available again for American users after Trump promised to issue an executive order to delay the ban on TikTok in the country.
On January 20, after taking office, Trump delayed the blocking of the platform in the United States for at least 75 days. He told reporters that the United States should have the right to half of TikTok, but did not explain exactly what that meant. Trump has previously said that he has “warm feelings” for the platform, as the votes of its young American users contributed to his victory in the presidential election in November 2024.