Trump gives TikTok deal with Oracle and Walmart his blessing and reveals HQ will be in Texas and firm will give $5 billion donation to education
- Donald Trump on Saturday afternoon said he would accept TikTok’s deal
- Under the deal, Oracle will lead a coalition of owners, including Walmart
- TikTok is currently owned by Beijing-based ByteDance
- Trump ordered the sale last month and said he might otherwise shut it down
Donald Trump has approved a deal which will see Oracle lead a coalition to buy TikTok from Chinese company ByteDance.
Last month Trump ordered that ByteDance sell TikTok, or else it would be shut down in the United States.
About 100 million Americans use TikTok and U.S. officials have expressed concern about user data and the potential for China to access that data.
On Saturday, shortly before departing for a campaign rally in North Carolina, the president said he had given the green light to an offer made by California-based Oracle, working in a partnership with Walmart.
‘I have given the deal my blessing,’ he said, adding that the agreement ‘will have nothing to do with China.’
He continued: ‘It’ll be totally secure, that’s part of the deal.’
Donald Trump on Saturday announced that he had approved a deal for Oracle to buy TikTok
The Chinese government must now approve the Oracle-led deal for it to proceed
The president said the new company would be headquartered in Texas, would hire as many as 25,000 people and would contribute $5 billion toward U.S. education.
The Chinese government must now sign off on the transaction for it to go forward.
TikTok is currently owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, and Trump ordered the sale last month or else he said he’d shut it down in the U.S.
TikTok confirmed on Monday that it submitted Oracle’s proposal to the U.S. government for approval.
On Thursday Trump said his administration had spoken to Walmart and Oracle about TikTok, but at that point there was no agreed deal for the Chinese-owned short video app.
‘We’re making a decision,’ he said on Thursday.
‘We spoke today to Walmart, Oracle. I guess Microsoft is still involved.
‘We’ll make a decision, but nothing much has changed. We’ll make a decision soon.’
ByteDance had been racing to clinch a deal with the White House that would stave off a U.S. ban on TikTok that Trump has threatened could happen as early as next week.
Reuters reported on Thursday the new company, dubbed TikTok Global, will have a majority of American directors, a U.S. chief executive and a security expert on the board.
Oracle has agreed to eventually own a 20 per cent stake in the company, according to a Reuters source.
Walmart’s CEO, Doug McMillon will also get a seat on TikTok Global’s board, the source said.
Trump said the new TikTok company will be ‘totally controlled by Oracle and Walmart.’