President Donald Trump signed on Thursday an executive order declaring that his plan to sell American Tiktok operations, Chinese property, US and global investors will address national security requirements in a 2024 law.
The new American company will be valued at around 14 billion, said vice president JD Vance, which places the price of the popular application of short videos well below the estimates of analysts.
Trump delayed until January 20 the application of the law that prohibits the application unless its Chinese owners sell it, amid the efforts to extract American assets of Tiktok from the global platform, attract US investors and other countries and obtain the approval of the Chinese government.
You may be interested: Bytedonce could still play an important role in the creation of Tiktok EU, according to Fuentes
The publication of the Executive Order shows that Trump is moving forward in the sale of Tiktok’s US assets, but there are still numerous details to be completed, including how the US entity would use the most important asset of Tiktok, its recommendation algorithm.
“There was some resistance from China, but the fundamental thing we wanted to achieve was to keep Tiktok in operation, but we also wanted to ensure the privacy of Americans as required by law,” Vance told journalists in an informative session in the Oval office.
Trump’s order says that the algorithm will be reached and monitored by the security partners of the US company, and the operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint business.
Trump said the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, had expressed approval of the plans. “I talked to President XI,” Trump said.
“We had a pleasant conversation, I explained what we were doing and told me to move on.”
You may like it: Trump’s executive order says that ‘will save’ not only to Tiktok, but also other byaDance apps
The China Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated on Friday that the Government “respects the will of companies and invites them to carry out trade negotiations based on the market rules to achieve solutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations and achieve a balance of interest.”
“We hope that the United States will provide an open, fair and non -discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies that invest in the United States,” said Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun, at a press conference, without giving more details of the agreement.
Tiktok did not make immediate comments on Trump’s action.
Trump has recognized Tiktok, which has 170 million users in the United States, for helping him win the re -election last year. Trump has 15 million followers in his personal Tiktok account. The White House also launched an official Tiktok account last month.
“This will be operated by the United States at all times,” Trump said.
He said Michael Dell, founder, president and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, president Emeritus of Fox Corp, owner of Fox News and the News Corp newspaper editor, and “probably four or five investors absolutely world class” would be part of the agreement.
The White House did not explain how it reached the valuation of 14 billion dollars.
Find out: this is the network of multimillionaires friends, partners and supporters of Tump who take control of Tiktok in the US
Bytedance, the Chinese Matrix of Tiktok, is currently being valued at more than 330,000 million dollars, according to its new shares of shares for employees.
Tiktok provides a small percentage of the company’s total income.
According to Wedbush Securities, Dan Iives, it is estimated that Tiktok would validate between 30,000 and 40,000 million dollars without the algorithm in April 2025.
Alan Rozenshtein, professor at the Law Faculty of the University of Minnesota, said the executive order left unanswered questions, even if Bytedance would continue to control the algorithm.
“The problem is that the president has certified the agreement, but has not provided much information about the algorithm,” he said.
On Friday the Chinese media also painted a different scenario from the agreement with Tiktok, suggesting that Bytedance would continue to play an important or operational role.
Bytedance will create a new American company as part of the restructuring of Tiktok operations in the United States, the Chinese media Latepost reported, citing Fuentes.
The new company that will create Bytedance will be responsible for electronic commerce, brand operations and interconnection with international operations, according to the report.
The report also said that the joint company, as described by the White House and is valued at 14 billion dollars, would be responsible for the digital security of the United States, safeguarding content and software, as well as related local businesses.
Another Chinese financial magazine, Caixin, also reported, citing people close to the agreement, which Bytedance planned to establish an American entity in Tiktok that will receive some income from the new joint company of Tiktok.
Both reports were withdrawn from their respective websites later on Friday. The White House and Bytedance did not respond immediately to a request for comments.
Oracle and others will own Tiktok in the US
A group of three investors, including Oracle and the private capital firm Silver Lake, will acquire a participation of approximately 50% in Tiktok US, two sources familiar with the agreement said Thursday.
A group of current shareholders from Bytedance will have a participation of approximately 30%, according to one of the sources.
Among the current Bytedance investors are Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic and Kkr.
Given the intense interest of investors in Tiktok, the 50% participation could still change, the source said.
Oracle and Silver Lake did not immediately respond to comments requests.
Czech: Trump signs order that makes the legal functioning of Tiktok in the US
CNBC previously reported, citing Fuentes, that MGX, Oracle and Silver Lake, based in Abu Dhabi, are prepared to be the main investors in Tiktok US with a combined property of 45%.
MGX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comments on the CNBC report.
Republican legislators of the House of Representatives expressed their desire to learn more about the agreement to ensure that it represents a total break with China.
“As the details are finalized, we must ensure that this agreement protects US users from the influence and surveillance of groups related to the PCCH,” US representatives declared Brett Guthrie, Gus Bilirakis and Richard Hudson.
The Agreement on the Tiktok operations in the United States includes the appointment by Bytedance of one of the seven members of the Board of Directors of the new entity, while the Americans will occupy the other six positions, said a senior White House official on Saturday.
Bytedance would have less than 20% in Tiktok US to meet the requirements established in the 2024 law that ordered its closure in January 2025 if Bytedance did not sell its US assets.
With Reuters information
