By Nandita Bose, Dawn Chielewski, Milana Vinn and Kanishka Singh
On board the Air Force One (Reuters) -US, President, Donald Trump, said on Saturday that he was in talks with several people on the purchase of Tiktok and would probably have a decision on the future of the popular application in the next 30 days.
“I spoke to many people from Tiktok and there is great interest in Tiktok,” Trump told journalists on Air Force One during a flight to Florida.
Earlier in the day, Reuters reported that two people knowing the discussions said that Trump’s administration is working on a plan to save Tiktok which involves typing the Oracle software company (Nyse 🙂 and a group of investors external to effectively take control of application operations.
Under the agreement negotiated by the White House, the owner of Tiktok, based in China, Bytedance, would retain participation in the company, but the updates of data collection and software would be supervised by Oracle, which provides Already the base of Tiktok’s web infrastructure, one of the sources told Reuters.
However, in his comments to journalists on the flight, Trump said that he had not spoken to Larry Ellison d’Oracle about the purchase of the application.
When asked if he concluded an agreement with Oracle and other investors to save Tiktok, Trump said: “No, not with Oracle. Many people talk to me, very substantial people, to buy it and I probably make this decision over the next 30 days.
The sources said that the terms of any potential agreement with Oracle were fluid and likely to change. A source said that the complete scope of the discussions was not yet defined and could include US operations as well as other regions.
National public radio reported discussions on Tiktok global operations on Saturday, citing two people knowing negotiations. Oracle had no immediate comments.
The agreement under negotiation provides for the participation of current American investors by Bytedance, according to sources. The Group International Susquehanna by Jeff Yass, General Atlantic, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Sequoia Capital are among the American donors in Bytedance.
The representatives of Tiktok, investors general of the bydance Atlantic, KKR, Sequoia and Susquehanna could not be joined to comment.
Others who argue to acquire Tiktok, including the group of investors led by billionaire Frank McCourt and another involving Jimmy Donaldson, better known as YouTube star, Mr. Beast, are not part of Oracle negotiations, according to one of the sources.
Responsible oracle
Under the terms of the agreement, Oracle would be responsible for solving national security problems. Tiktok first concluded an agreement with Oracle in 2022 to store American user information to alleviate Washington’s concerns about the Chinese government’s interference.
Tiktok’s management would remain in place to operate the short video application, according to one of the sources.
The application, which is used by 170 million Americans, was rejected temporarily for users shortly before a law indicating that it was to be sold by Bytedance for reasons of national security, or be banned, A taken effect on January 19.
Trump, after taking up his duties a day later, signed an executive decree seeking to delay 75 days the application of the law which was implemented after the US officials warned that under bydance, there was A risk that Americans’ data will be poorly used.
On Friday, Oracle and the White House officials held a meeting on a potential agreement, and another meeting was scheduled for next week, NPR reported.
Oracle was interested in Tiktok participation “in the tens of billions”, but the rest of the agreement is in flow, the NPR report cited the source.
Trump said he would “like the United States to have a 50% property position in a joint venture” in Tiktok.
NPR cited another source saying that the soothing congress is considered a key obstacle to the White House.
The defenders of freedom of expression opposed the prohibition of Tiktok by virtue of a law adopted by the American Congress and signed by former President Joe Biden.
The company said that US officials had disturbed its links with China, arguing that its content recommendation engine and that user data is stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle while moderation decisions content that affects American users are also taken in the United States
