Trump expected to approve TikTok deal via executive order later this week: Report
China and US flags are seen near a TikTok logo in this illustration picture taken on Jul 16, 2020. (File photo: REUTERS/Florence Lo)
US President Donald Trump is expected to approve a deal for TikTok through an executive order, declaring that it satisfies the requirements of law later this week, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday (Sep 22), citing a senior White House official.
This would cap months of US-China deliberations that underscored wider trade talks and solidify the timeline for a much-awaited deal to keep the popular short video app running in the US.
Trump has said that the United States and China have made progress on a deal requiring TikTok's American assets to be transferred to US owners from China's ByteDance.
A deal would also stipulate that the TikTok algorithm is "secured, retrained and operated in the United States outside of ByteDance's control", Reuters reported on Saturday, citing a White House official.
TikTok and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Trump had said on Sunday that media mogul Lachlan Murdoch and business leaders Larry Ellison and Michael Dell would be involved as US investors in a proposed deal to keep TikTok operating in the United States.
Under the expected deal, TikTok's US assets would be majority-owned by American investors and operated in the United States by a board of directors with national security and cybersecurity credentials, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing a White House official.
Existing investors and a group of new US backers that includes private-equity firm Silver Lake and cloud-computing firm Oracle would together own about 80 per cent of the company, WSJ reported on Monday.
Reuters has reported that the agreement requires that all data on American users will be stored on US cloud computing infrastructure run by Oracle.
A consortium of new investors including Silver Lake and Oracle would own roughly half of a new entity created to run TikTok in the US, the WSJ reported.
Existing investors such as trading firm Susquehanna International would hold about 30 per cent, according to the report.
TikTok parent ByteDance's stake would dip below 20 per cent, Reuters has reported.
