TikTok owner Bytedance Ltd. and Oracle Corp. have tentatively agreed to terms for Oracle’s bid for the U.S. operations of the social-media service, according to people familiar with the matter.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sent Bytedance a revised terms sheet late Wednesday and the company and Oracle accepted it, the people said. They described the changes as addressing national security concerns about the transaction and asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Bytedance is trying to win U.S. approval for a transaction with Oracle that would leave the Chinese-headquartered parent company with majority ownership of TikTok. President Donald Trump demanded the sale of the service in August, declaring in executive orders that the popular video-sharing app is a national security threat.
Any deal needs to be approved by both Trump – who could still reject the transaction – and the Chinese government, where officials have accused the U.S. of “economic bullying.”
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner is aware of the revised terms but hasn’t reviewed the latest details in depth and hasn’t weighed in on whether Trump should sign off on the deal, one person familiar with the matter said.
The White House and Treasury declined to comment. The Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t respond to requests for comment.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said early Thursday that he’s concerned that Oracle’s bid for TikTok may be a repackaging that won’t meet the president’s goals.
Meadows said: “We’re still looking at the potential details of the deal, and whether it meets the national-security thresholds, the American-interest thresholds.”
“My big concern is if all we’re doing is repackaging it and still keeping it as a predominantly Chinese-government run company, that would not sit well with the original goal the president outlined,” he said.
Under the plan, Oracle would acquire a minority stake in a newly formed TikTok that would be headquartered in the U.S. with an independent board approved by the U.S. government.
Under the plan, Oracle would acquire a minority stake in a newly formed TikTok that would be headquartered in the U.S. with an independent board approved by the U.S. government.
