President Donald Trump has confirmed that a deal to secure a new US owner for TikTok has been finalised, insisting that Chinese President Xi Jinping has given his approval.
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order declaring that the agreement met the requirements of a 2024 law mandating the Chinese-owned app’s sale or a nationwide ban. He said the arrangement would allow TikTok to continue operating in America under new ownership.
Speaking in the Oval Office alongside Vice-President JD Vance, Trump said a group of “sophisticated investors” would buy TikTok’s US operations, forming a company valued at $14bn (£10.5bn). Among those set to play a role are Oracle, chaired by Trump ally Larry Ellison, Fox Corporation’s Rupert Murdoch, Dell Technologies’ Michael Dell, and private equity firm Silver Lake.
Under the deal, Americans will hold six of seven seats on the new board, and China’s stake will be capped at under 20%. Crucially, US investors will control the algorithm, widely regarded as TikTok’s most valuable asset. A retrained version of the algorithm, based solely on American data, will be used for the US app, overseen by “trusted security partners.” Oracle will continue storing all US user data on its domestic servers.
“China is on board,” Trump declared, noting he personally discussed the agreement with Xi in a 19 September call. The White House said Trump and Xi will revisit the deal during next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.
ByteDance and TikTok have not publicly commented on the deal, though earlier this month the company thanked both leaders “for their efforts to preserve TikTok in the United States.” Beijing, however, has been more cautious, stressing that negotiations must comply with Chinese law and striking “a balance of interests.” Analysts expect China to issue an export license for the TikTok algorithm before the deal can take full effect.
The agreement follows years of US national security concerns over ByteDance’s ties to Beijing, amid fears Chinese authorities could access data from TikTok’s 170 million American users. The Biden-era legislation signed in April 2024 gave ByteDance nine months to sell or face a ban. While TikTok called the law “unconstitutional” and mounted several failed legal challenges, Trump extended the deadline multiple times after taking office in January 2025 to allow negotiations to continue.
Despite relief among TikTok’s vast community of US creators who spend an average of 51 minutes daily on the app analysts warn the future remains uncertain. “The jury’s out on whether this new, US-only app will be a true replicate of the old one, with just as powerful of an algorithm and experience,” said Kelsey Chickering of Forrester.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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