Trump says Oracle close to TikTok deal as ByteDance aims for majority ownership | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
October 03, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2023
Trump says Oracle close to TikTok deal as ByteDance aims for majority ownership

World+Biz

Reuters
16 September, 2020, 12:55 pm
Last modified: 16 September, 2020, 01:14 pm

Related News

  • What's at stake in the civil fraud case against Trump?
  • Donald Trump's business empire in peril as civil fraud trial opens in New York
  • Donald Trump to appear in New York court for civil fraud trial
  • Trump's campaign machine is bleeding cash for legal expenses
  • Biden warns US democracy in peril from 'extremist' Trump

Trump says Oracle close to TikTok deal as ByteDance aims for majority ownership

Oracle would become ByteDance’s technology partner responsible for the management of TikTok’s data and take a minority stake in TikTok

Reuters
16 September, 2020, 12:55 pm
Last modified: 16 September, 2020, 01:14 pm
Photo: BSS/AFP
Photo: BSS/AFP

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had heard Oracle Corp ORCL.N was very close to a deal over ByteDance's TikTok, even as sources said the Chinese company was seeking to keep majority ownership of the popular short video app.

Trump has ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok amid US concerns user data could be passed to China's Communist Party government. He has threatened to ban TikTok in the United States as early as Sunday if ByteDance does not comply.

Under ByteDance's proposal, however, the Beijing-based company would keep a majority stake in TikTok's global business and create headquarters for TikTok in the United States, the sources said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday that ByteDance has also offered to create 20,000 US jobs with TikTok.

Oracle would become ByteDance's technology partner responsible for the management of TikTok's data and take a minority stake in TikTok, the sources added.

"I heard they are very close to a deal," Trump said, adding his administration would be making a decision soon on whether to approve it, and that he was a fan of Oracle's Chairman Larry Ellison.

Triller became Tiktok's one of the biggest competitors amidst all the confusion

The ByteDance proposal calls for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the US government panel that is overseeing the deal talks, to supervise how TikTok will be operated, one of the sources said.

Mnuchin, who chairs CFIUS, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross were meeting at the White House on Tuesday to consider ByteDance's proposal, two of the sources said.

It is unclear whether Trump will approve ByteDance's proposal, the sources said, requesting anonymity because the deliberations are confidential. The White House, ByteDance and Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Signing off on a deal for TikTok that would allow ByteDance to retain majority ownership would represent a U-turn for Trump and the US government agencies and departments that comprise CFIUS.

Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 14 calling on ByteDance to divest TikTok in the United States.

In its lawsuit against Trump's previous executive order, dated Aug. 6, which calls on TikTok to be banned, the app said CFIUS had not identified any mitigation measures that would address the national security risks, despite TikTok proposing to bring in "trusted US technology partners," as it has now branded Oracle.

Some CFIUS experts said the deal's approval would signal a major departure from the traditional national security reviews of deals driven by US civil servants.

"Nothing about this transaction is usual. It appears to be in the hands of the politicians rather than the professional CFIUS staff," said Paul Marquardt, a regulatory lawyer at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. "What is extraordinary here is how public and political the process is, and the continuation of negotiations after the issuance of a divestiture order."

While TikTok is best known for dancing videos that go viral among teenagers, US officials have had concerns since last year about whether the personal information of its 100 million US users could be compromised under its Chinese owner.

ByteDance's plan calls for restrictions in its control of TikTok, the sources said. It asks CFIUS to agree to operational arrangements similar to those it put in place when it allowed SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T to acquire US wireless carrier Sprint in 2013, according to the sources. These could include the US government approving board directors at TikTok, as well as its relationships with major vendors, the sources said.

ByteDance is also hoping that Ellison's fundraising for Trump, as well as Oracle Chief Executive Safra Catz's backing of Trump's transition team four years ago, will boost its chances, Reuters has reported.

DEAL DOES NOT ENVISAGE PAYMENT TO US GOVERNMENT

ByteDance's top investors - General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital and Coatue Management LLC - have discussed taking minority stakes in TikTok, though their participation in the deal remains uncertain, one of the sources said.

Also uncertain is Walmart Inc's WMT.N participation in the deal, after Microsoft Corp MSFT.O, which the retail giant had aligned with, was rejected by ByteDance.

Walmart and the investment firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump said last month "a very substantial portion" of any proceeds ByteDance receives from selling a stake in TikTok should go to the US government "because we're making it possible for this deal to happen." ByteDance's proposal, however, does not envision paying any such fee.

China also got involved in the process last month, updating its export control rules to give it a say over the transfer of technology, such as TikTok's recommendation algorithm, to a foreign buyer. Chinese officials have said ByteDance should not be coerced by the United States into a deal.

Reuters reported last week that China's government would rather see TikTok shut down in the United States than see it be part of a forced sale.

The proposed deal with Oracle would not require ByteDance to apply to Chinese authorities for an export license for TikTok's algorithm.

Tech / Top News

TikTok / Oracle / Trump

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Cenbank finally moves to make money costlier to fight inflation
    Cenbank finally moves to make money costlier to fight inflation
  • U.S. Dollar and Euro banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
    Hopes for $30b reserve by June amid concerns to meet IMF threshold
  • 5.3 magnitude earthquake jolts Bangladesh
    5.3 magnitude earthquake jolts Bangladesh

MOST VIEWED

  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    Why Bangladesh’s reserves tumble, Sri Lanka’s improve
  • Big drops in remittance, exports make reserves struggle harsher
    Big drops in remittance, exports make reserves struggle harsher
  • No source tax can be deducted from IT freelancing sector: Cenbank
    No source tax can be deducted from IT freelancing sector: Cenbank
  • Illustration: TBS
    Why do Bangladeshi universities fare so poorly in global rankings?
  • File Photo: PMO
    PM to inaugurate 4 mega projects this month
  • Shahjahan Bhuiyan’s parents and two out of his three siblings passed away when he was behind bars. He missed all the funerals.  
Photo: Nayem Ali
    Hangman Shahjahan Bhuiyan: Life after 60 executions and 44 years in prison

Related News

  • What's at stake in the civil fraud case against Trump?
  • Donald Trump's business empire in peril as civil fraud trial opens in New York
  • Donald Trump to appear in New York court for civil fraud trial
  • Trump's campaign machine is bleeding cash for legal expenses
  • Biden warns US democracy in peril from 'extremist' Trump

Features

The Dassler brothers before the fallout. Rudolf (left) and Adi (right). At the center is track and field athlete Josef Waitzer who helped the brothers make Dassler shoes in the beginning. Photo credit: Adi & Käthe Dassler Memorial Foundation

Adidas and Puma: How a sibling rivalry gave rise to two giants of the sports world

9h | Features
Photo: Collected

Simply Khulna: When food packs a punch

14h | Food
Photo: Collected

Where did hamburgers come from?

14h | Food
Shahjahan Bhuiyan’s parents and two out of his three siblings passed away when he was behind bars. He missed all the funerals.  
Photo: Nayem Ali

Hangman Shahjahan Bhuiyan: Life after 60 executions and 44 years in prison

20h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Ukraine is preparing for uninterrupted power supply in winter

Ukraine is preparing for uninterrupted power supply in winter

9h | TBS World
Everything about the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 stadiums: Part 2

Everything about the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 stadiums: Part 2

7h | TBS SPORTS
Without ‘big brothers’, many actresses would go hungry - Zayed Khan

Without ‘big brothers’, many actresses would go hungry - Zayed Khan

8h | TBS Entertainment
Remittances fall to lowest in 41 months, export growth also declining

Remittances fall to lowest in 41 months, export growth also declining

14h | TBS Economy
EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]