‘Unaware of $5 bn edu fund in TikTok deal’

NINGBO: TikTok owner Bytedance said in a social media post on Sunday that it was the first time it had heard in the news it was setting up a $5 billion education fund in the United States. US President Donald Trump said he had approved a deal, which included a $5 billion education fund, to allow TikTok to continue to operate in the United States. “The company has been committed to investing in the education field, and plans to work with partners and global shareholders to launch online classroom projects based on AI and video technology for students around the world,” ByteDance said on its official account on Toutiao.

In a surprise move, Oracle and Walmart have come together to save TikTok from the ban, forming a new company called TikTok Global which will be based in the US. President Donald Trump said he has given the deal his ‘blessing.’

Trump has announced that the China-based ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has got tentative approval for an agreement with the US government to resolve the outstanding issues, which will now include Oracle and Walmart together investing to acquire 20 per cent of the newly-formed TikTok Global business.

Oracle announced it was chosen as TikTok’s secure cloud provider and will become a minority investor with a 12.5 pc stake. Walmart said it has tentatively agreed to a purchase 7.5 per cent stake in TikTok and its CEO Doug McMillon would serve as one of the five board members of the newly-created firm, ByteDance which will own the remaining 80 per cent of TikTok.

“TikTok Global will be majority owned by American investors, including Oracle and Walmart. TikTok Global will be an independent American company, headquartered in the US, with four Americans out of the five member Board of Directors,” Walmart and Oracle said in a joint statement.

Talking to reporters, Trump said: “I have given the deal my blessing. I approve the deal in concept. It will have nothing to do with China, it’ll be totally secure, that’ll be part of the deal. The security will be 100 per cent. They’ll be using separate clouds and a lot of very, very powerful security”. All the TikTok technology will be in possession of TikTok Global, and comply with US laws and privacy regulations.

“TikTok Global will create more than 25,000 new jobs in the US and will pay more than $5 billion in new tax dollars to the US Treasury.”