Desk Report:
US President Donald Trump announced in an executive order on Thursday that the sale of Chinese-owned video sharing platform TikTok has been finalized. The sale has valued TikTok at $14 billion. He also said that his plan to sell TikTok’s US operations to US and international investors would meet national security requirements set out in the 2024 law.
According to Reuters, US Vice President JD Vance said the new US company would be valued at about $14 billion. He said the market value of the popular short video app is much lower than analysts had estimated.
Trump announced on Thursday that the deadline for banning TikTok under the law has been postponed until January 20 next year. During this period, efforts are underway to separate TikTok’s US operations from the parent company, raise US and other investors, and obtain approval from the Chinese government.
After the executive order was issued, it is understood that progress has been made in the process of selling TikTok’s US assets. But many things remain unclear, especially how TikTok’s most important asset—its recommendation algorithm—will be used.
“There was some objection from China,” Vance said at a White House briefing. “But the main goal was to keep TikTok running while protecting Americans under data privacy laws,” he said.
Trump’s order said the algorithm would be retrained and monitored by U.S. company security partners. The algorithm would operate under the control of a new joint venture. Trump also said Chinese President Xi Jinping had approved the plan. “I spoke with President Xi. We had a good discussion. I told him what I’m doing, and he said go ahead.”
The Chinese embassy in Washington and TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s decision. Trump has said TikTok helped his reelection. TikTok has 170 million users in the United States. Trump’s personal TikTok account has 15 million followers. Last month, the White House also launched an official TikTok account. Trump said, “It will be completely under American control.”
He said Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Fox News and News Corp. chairman emeritus Rupert Murdoch and four to five other world-class investors would participate in the deal.
However, the White House did not explain how the $14 billion valuation was arrived at. TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance valued the company at more than $330 billion in its latest employee share buyback plan, with TikTok’s contribution to that being very small.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said TikTok was estimated to be worth $30 billion to $40 billion in April 2025, excluding the algorithm. What the White House calls a $14 billion joint venture, Chinese media say, will primarily focus on U.S. digital security, content and software security, and local business.
The source said that three investors, including Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake, will take a combined 50 percent stake in TikTok’s US operations. Another source said that ByteDance’s existing investors, including Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic and KKR, will hold about 30 percent. The source added that the 50 percent stake could change due to strong investor interest.
Abu Dhabi-based MGX, Oracle and Silver Lake are reportedly buying a combined 45 percent stake in TikTok’s US operations, CNBC reported. MGX did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. ByteDance’s stake in TikTok must be kept below 20 percent to avoid the risk of TikTok’s US operations being shut down. The law states that if ByteDance does not sell TikTok’s US assets by January 2025, the app will shut down.
