OUT OF SYNC ON TIKTOK

US, China conflicting

When it comes to who will control TikTok, Washington and Beijing are dancing to completely different tunes.

Chinese tech giant ByteDance insisted on Monday it will keep the reins of the wildly popular dance-video app, even as it cut a deal with Oracle and Walmart to avoid its shutdown in the US.

In a statement addressing “rumors” that TikTok would become an American-owned company, ByteDance said TikTok Global, a new US-based company set up to run the app in the states, was its “100 [percent] owned subsidiary.” The stake will drop to 80 percent after a “small round” of financing before the new company goes public next year, according to the statement posted on WeChat, a Chinese social-media platform.

But Americans will actually control 53 percent of the equity in TikTok Global, a USbased source familiar with the deal told The Post. That will include Oracle and Walmart’s combined 20 percent stake, while the rest will be held by US investors who already own a chunk of ByteDance, such as buyout firm General Atlantic, according to the source.

ByteDance’s insistence that it still has power over TikTok appears to be designed to help make the sale easier for Beijing — which still needs to approve the deal — to swallow, the US-based source added.

“They’re a Chinese entity and they’re speaking to Chinese government,” source said.

Insiders say the starkly conflicting accounts of the deal could point to trouble as both sides look to get it closed. President Trump gave the partnership his “blessing” over the weekend. In addition to the 53 percent American ownership stake, four out of TikTok Global’s five board seats will be occupied by Americans, with the fifth held by app founder Zhang Yiming.

Trump — who kicked off the saga over the summer when he signed an executive order banning TikTok in the United States unless it was sold to a “very American company” over concerns that China’s authoritarian government could use the data it collected to spy on Americans — reiterated Monday that no deal would go through if ByteDance has a control over the new company.

“It’s going to be controlled, totally controlled by Oracle, and then I guess they’re going public and they’re buying out the rest of it, they’re buying out a lot,” Trump said. “And if we find that they don’t have total control, then we’re not going to approve the deal.

“It’s all going to be run by Walmart — 100 percent — and Oracle,” he added.

A ByteDance spokesman did not immediately comment.

Oracle and Walmart reportedly would pay a total of $12 billion for their 20 percent stake.