The plan to “save” TikTok is starting to come into focus. On Tuesday The Wall Street Journal reported more details about a deal between the US and China as the two sides are apparently “finalizing” specifics of the arrangement.
According to the report, TikTok’s US business will be owned primarily by a group of US investors, which will have a “roughly” 80 percent stake in the entity. The group includes longtime TikTok partner Oracle, as well as Silicon Valley VC firm Andreesen Horowitz and the private equity firm Silver Lake. Chinese shareholders will have a minority stake that keeps their ownership under the 20 percent threshold required by law. The US government will also reportedly get to choose one board member for the “American-dominated” body.
Reports about such an arrangement have been swirling for months, with President Donald Trump saying in June that a deal could be “about two weeks” away. It seems that Chinese officials have finally signed off on the new arrangement, with a Chinese regulator saying earlier this week that the new US version of TikTok would continue to use the Chinese algorithm.
Now, The Wall Street Journal reports that “TikTok engineers will re-create” the app’s algorithm for a brand new TikTok app using technology licensed from ByteDance. The company is reportedly testing the new app. Oracle will oversee US user data for the operation; TikTok and Oracle have partnered on data security for years following previous negotiations between the company and the US government.
Even though a final deal is apparently close, it could still take some time before it’s finalized. In the meantime, Trump extended the deadline that would have banned the current version of the app in the US for a fourth time. On Tuesday he told reporters at the White House he planned to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday “to confirm everything.”
