United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday authorizing a deal that would lead to the sale of TikTok's U.S. operations , CNBC reports. The deal would allow TikTok to comply with U.S. law that requires the social media service to be sold to a non-Chinese company or be banned from operating in the country.
A consortium including Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based investment fund MGX will oversee TikTok’s U.S. operations. Under the order, Chinese parent ByteDance will retain less than 20% of the company. The consortium will control 45% of TikTok, while ByteDance investors and new shareholders will own 35%.
Oracle will oversee security operations and provide cloud computing services for the US company TikTok. The deal suggests that ByteDance will license a version of its algorithm to TikTok’s US shareholders, with the algorithm “retrained and monitored” by Oracle .
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“It belongs to Americans, and very sophisticated Americans,” Trump said of the deal, which still needs China’s formal approval.
TikTok’s U.S. operations will be valued at $14 billion, according to U.S. Vice President JD Vance. That’s less than half of previous estimates for the app’s value. According to CNBC, no ByteDance representatives were present at the signing of the order, and there’s no indication that the Chinese government has changed its stance on approving the deal. China had previously said it wouldn’t approve the TikTok sale, but Trump claims Chinese President Xi Jinping verbally approved the deal during “a good conversation.”
TikTok was technically banned in the United States on January 19 due to the passage of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in 2024. However, as soon as Trump took office as President, he reinstated it and has since delayed the enforcement of the TikTok ban several times, preventing the US Department of Justice from taking legal action against companies that continue to distribute the app.
The law requires TikTok to be sold to a non-Chinese company or cease operations in the U.S., and in the executive order, Trump has said his deal complies with the law. It is unclear whether Congress will agree.
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ByteDance and the US investors have 120 days to complete the deal, so it should be completed by the end of January 2026.
What will ultimately happen with the sale of TikTok?
The new twist in the TikTok case in the United States opens a particularly interesting chapter in the relationship between technology, politics, and geopolitical power. The decision to transfer part of TikTok’s ownership to American hands is not simply a corporate restructuring; in fact, it reflects the West’s growing concern about the control of critical data by Chinese platforms.
The involvement of companies like Oracle is no coincidence: the goal is to create a climate of trust that security and data management will be overseen by American infrastructure. However, the details remain murky, especially regarding the transfer and “retraining” of the algorithm that makes TikTok so powerful.
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From an economic perspective, the $14 billion valuation shows the perception gap between political will and the real value that markets place on the app. At the same time, Beijing’s stance is the determining factor: without China’s approval, the deal is in limbo. In any case, TikTok is now becoming the most prominent example of how technology is becoming a field of tough global negotiation.
