On Monday, Oracle announced that its new TikTok venture will be entirely divested from ByteDance, a significant break from previous reports of the agreed deal between the two companies.
The company said in a statement: “Upon creation of TikTok Global, Oracle/Walmart will make their investment and the TikTok Global shares will be distributed to their owners, Americans will be the majority and ByteDance will have no ownership in TikTok Global.”
The statement differs significantly from earlier reports, which showed Oracle and Walmart taking only a 20 percent stake in the new venture and ByteDance maintaining control of the other 80 percent.
On Monday morning, President Trump told reporters that China would be required to cede control of the app in order for the deal to go through.
The Department of Commerce had prepared to levy sanctions against the company on Friday, only to delay the action after the president gave the deal an informal approval over the weekend. TikTok’s lawsuit against the department was voluntarily dismissed in the wake of that extension. The president was expected to formally withdraw the executive orders blocking the app later this week.
