China Hails TikTok Deal as ‘Win-Win’ While U.S. Pushes for Control

By Jim Pollard with Reuters | Asia Financial

Chinese shareholders’ stake will be cut to below 20%, while Andreessen, Silver Lake and Oracle look set to be key players in the new firm running TikTok in the US

China has hailed the agreement reached with US trade officials on the operations of TikTok in the United States as a “win-win” deal.

The framework agreement achieved in Madrid on Monday will see the US operations of the popular short-video app switch to local owners because of a law passed last year by Congress, which deemed Chinese ownership of TikTok a national security risk and that parent company Bytedance must divest its holding or face a ban.

The deal is expected to see Bytedance and Chinese shareholders’ stake reduced to below 20%, while tech giant Oracle, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and private equity firm Silver Lake Management look set to be key partners in the 80% of shares that American investors will purchase.

The group could be led by Oracle’s executive chairman Larry Ellison – who was briefly the world’s richest person last week, when his personal fortune topped $390 billion. Ellison, 81, is a Trump supporter and was one of the investors favoured by the President to purchase the app’s US operations early this year.

Details of the price, which could be $40 billion or so, and other aspects of the deal are still vague as investors must wait for a call scheduled on Friday between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which is expected to confirm the deal.

Sources familiar with the framework told CNN the deal would involve investments from a number of US-based venture capital firms, private equity funds and tech companies, and that they would create a US-based company that will operate the app.

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