U.S. President Donald Trump announced an agreement to keep TikTok operational in the United States, following a protracted negotiation period. The deal reportedly requires TikTok's American assets to be sold to U.S. owners, effectively separating the app from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. This development is significant given TikTok's large user base of approximately 170 million Americans and marks a potential resolution to ongoing tensions between the U.S. and China regarding technology and data privacy.
As part of the agreement, the White House extended the deadline for the asset transfer by 90 days to December 16. This extension allows ByteDance additional time to finalize the transaction, which will see an American-dominated board overseeing TikTok, although ByteDance is expected to retain a 19.9% ownership stake—just below the 20% threshold mandated by a law passed during the Biden Administration.
The situation has been complex, with concerns raised about the potential for the Chinese government to access U.S. user data, prompting bipartisan support for divestiture. Despite these concerns, the Trump administration has been cautious in enforcing the divestiture law, likely due to the app's popularity.
Additionally, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that the commercial terms of the deal had been nearly settled since March, with only a few details pending. The final agreement is anticipated to involve both existing and new investors, including Oracle, which will handle cloud services for TikTok in the U.S.
A conclusive announcement is expected following a communication between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, signaling the ongoing diplomatic negotiations between the two nations.