Trump gives blessing to deal to allow TikTok to continue to operate in U.S.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, ( Reuters) - U. S. President Donald Trump said he supports a deal that will allow TikTok to continue to operate in the United States, after threatening to ban the Chinese-owned app in August.

He told reporters at the White House he backs the deal with TikTok owner ByteDance, Oracle and Walmart to create a new company that will assume TikTok’s U.S. operations called TikTok Global.

Trump said the new company will be “totally controlled by Oracle and Walmart ... All of the control is Oracle and Walmart.”

U.S. shareholders are expected to control 53% of TikTok Global, a person briefed on the matter said, while Chinese investors will hold 36%.

Oracle said it will take a 12.5% stake in TikTok Global.

TikTok said under the deal, Oracle and Walmart will take part in a TikTok Global pre-IPO financing round in which they can take up to a 20% cumulative stake in the company.

The source said the remaining 80% of shares will be distributed to ByteDance investors, a source briefed on the matter said.

U.S. investors currently own about 40% of Bytedance. Tiktok said it was “pleased that the proposal by TikTok, Oracle, and Walmart will resolve the security concerns of the U.S. Administration and settle questions around TikTok’s future in the U.S.”

Tiktok said Oracle will become the company’s “trusted technology provider, responsible for hosting all U.S. user data and securing associated computer systems to ensure U.S. national security requirements are fully satisfied.”