Sale of TikTok in the United States: China has officially closed the deal
19 December 11:17
ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, has signed a joint venture agreement that will transfer control of the operations of the US-based TikTok app to US and global investors, a major step toward avoiding a US ban and ending years of uncertainty.
This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Reuters.
This agreement is an important milestone for the short video program, which is regularly used by more than 170 million Americans, after a long-running struggle that began in August 2020, when President Donald Trump first unsuccessfully tried to ban the program due to US national security concerns.
According to the agreement, US and global investors including cloud computing giant Oracle (ORCL.N), private equity group Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX will hold an 80.1% stake in the new joint venture, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, while ByteDance will retain 19.9%.
The joint venture will act as an independent organization with the authority to protect data in the United States, secure algorithms, moderate content, and ensure software security.
The group of investors will be headed by Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison.
Technically, this will be a new application that will have to be downloaded again. It will have an identical interface, but will run on American infrastructure with algorithms controlled by the US government.
Personal data of Americans will be stored in Oracle data centers located in Texas.
Trump has already signed a decree authorizing the sale of TikTok assets to a group of American investors. According to the White House, Chinese President Xi Jinping has approved the sale of TikTok to American businesses, which will allow the platform to continue operating in the United States.
