President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order clearing a path for TikTok to continue operating in the US. The order follows months of uncertainty after a 2024 law required ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent, to divest from the app or face a US ban. Trump's order decrees that the deal meets the requirements of that law, per Deadline. Once the fine points are agreed to, the deal will see TikTok spun off into a new US-based entity. Oracle and Silver Lake, both American firms, are to become majority stakeholders. ByteDance will retain less than 20% ownership, the Hill reports.
Trump said Thursday that Chinese President Xi Jinping has approved the plan, per the AP. That will let China continue to pursue trade negotiations, said Sun Yun of the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center, adding, "TikTok alone does not compare with the importance of an amicable US-China relations and the positive momentum that prevents many negative developments from happening." Oracle also will oversee the security of the new entity, including management of the recommendation algorithm that serves American users. Officials say the operation will be valued at roughly $14 billion. The deal follows repeated delays in enforcing the divest-or-ban measure as the administration pursued a resolution with China, per the Hill.
"This is going to be American-operated all the way," Trump said during the signing on Thursday, per NBC News. He said Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison will play a major role in the operation and that tech entrepreneur Michael Dell and media mogul Rupert Murdoch also will be involved. Some lawmakers have raised questions about whether the deal fully satisfies legal requirements, particularly regarding the severing of operational ties to ByteDance. Congress passed the divestment law in April 2024 after bipartisan concerns were raised about data privacy and national security due to the app's Chinese ownership.
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